The joint military-police investigation task force (TF) said on the 31st that it had referred one National Intelligence Service employee and two active-duty officers to prosecutors on charges including aiding an ordinary enemy-benefiting crime, for their involvement in a man in his 30s, a graduate student surnamed Oh, sending an unmanned aerial vehicle to North Korea.
National Intelligence Service (NIS) employee A was charged with aiding an ordinary enemy-benefiting crime and violating the Aviation Safety Act. A, who has been friends with Oh for more than 10 years, is an eighth-grade administrative support staffer and was found to have provided a total of 2.9 million won to Oh for drone production costs and meals on the day of the test flight.
Captain B of the Army Special Warfare Command, a schoolmate of Oh who accompanied and joined in when the drone was flown, was referred to the military prosecution on charges of aiding an ordinary enemy-benefiting crime and violating the Aviation Safety Act.
The TF determined that Captain B actively helped by watching together with Oh the footage of North Korean areas shot by the drone and assessing the value of the footage.
Captain C of the Defense Intelligence Command, who was directly involved in the drone flight, was referred to the military prosecution on a charge of aiding a violation of the Aviation Safety Act. Captain C was found to have contacted Oh for the purpose of utilizing him for work and to have personally reviewed the footage of North Korean areas shot by the drone.
However, for Captain C, relevance to the Jan. 4 drone flight this year was not confirmed, so the charge of aiding an ordinary enemy-benefiting crime was not applied. Although Captain C reviewed ways to use the drone footage at the intelligence command, that was halted after December last year, and contact with Oh was also cut off.
Major D of the intelligence command, who was booked on indications of providing activity funds after selecting Oh as a partner for operating a "fake media outlet," was not referred.
The TF explained, "It was confirmed that Major D contacted Oh and others to utilize them for work, but we determined that it was unrelated to the drone," and added, "There was no objective evidence to deem involvement in the civilians' crimes, so the case was forwarded to the military prosecution with a nonindictment opinion."
The TF also said, "To verify the facts behind allegations related to the intelligence command raised by some quarters, we conducted extensive investigations of those involved, but no additional suspicions of involvement related to the drone case were found."
Over 79 days of investigation, the TF referred a total of six people, including Oh; a person surnamed Jang who made the drone; and a person surnamed Kim who presented himself as a director in charge of North Korea at a drone company, as well as three more on this day. TF operations ended on this day.
However, centered on the Korean National Police Agency and the Criminal Investigation Command, they plan to cooperate with the prosecution and others to help maintain the indictment.