On the 2nd, the last day of the appeal period, prosecutors filed a partial appeal in connection with the "West Sea public official shooting case," in which all defendants were acquitted at the first trial. They abandoned an appeal against Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Park Gee-won and others.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office said it appealed charges including defamation against former Office of National Security Deputy Minister Suh Hoon and former Korea Coast Guard Commissioner General Kim Hong-hee, while deciding not to appeal charges including abuse of power to obstruct the exercise of rights against Park and former Ministry of National Defense Minister Suh Wook and others. As a result, Park and others' acquittals were finalized.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office said it "closely reviewed the evidence and relevant legal principles regarding the first-trial acquittal in the West Sea public official shooting case and, after consultations with the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, decided to file a partial appeal."
It added, "We filed an appeal on parts including the announcement of investigative results that could be misinterpreted as a voluntary defection to North Korea when whether there was an abduction was unclear, thereby damaging the honor of the deceased and the bereaved family," and said, "We decided not to appeal the remaining parts in consideration of the practical benefit of an appeal."
The prosecutors' appeal deadline was midnight that day.
Earlier, after a first-trial acquittal was handed down to former Deputy Minister Suh and former Director Park in the West Sea public official killing case, the National Intelligence Service withdrew its complaint. On the 29th of last month, the National Intelligence Service (NIS) said, "While respecting the judiciary's judgment and, as a state institution, to correct past wrongs and fulfill our obligation to promptly support the restoration of the rights of the accused, we decided to withdraw the unethical complaint against the former director and others after a thorough internal review of the entire process from the complaint to the first-trial ruling."
It continued, "The (Yoon Suk-yeol administration's) inspection-investigation appears to have been conducted for the purpose of filing criminal complaints against specific individuals, raising a strong possibility of abuse of inspection authority," and claimed, "We confirmed that, to reach the conclusion that there were criminal suspicions in officials' duties, the complaint content was constructed contrary to facts or the legal theory was forced."
After all five defendants indicted at the first trial were acquitted, whether prosecutors would appeal became a political controversy. Former Director Park said, "Since the NIS, which is a party to the case, has withdrawn its complaint, the prosecutors who investigated the case should forgo an appeal and, through inspection and investigation of the prosecutors who investigated at the time, mete out punishment."
Prime Minister Kim Min-seok and Democratic Party leader Jung Chung-rae also said it was an "overreaching indictment." Ministry of Justice Minister Jung Sung-ho told reporters at the Government Complex Gwacheon that day, "It was a textbook case of political retaliation." However, he said he had no plan to direct the investigation regarding whether to appeal.