SEOUL, Nov. 5 (Yonhap) — The final court hearing is set to be held Wednesday on the former Moon Jae-in government’s alleged cover-up of the 2020 killing of a South Korean fisheries official at North Korea’s hands.
The hearing will be held at the Seoul Central District Court, wrapping up a trial that began some three years ago with the indictments of five officials of former President Moon’s administration, including former National Security Adviser Suh Hoon and former Defense Minister Suh Wook.
The fisheries official, Lee Dae-jun, was fatally shot by North Korean soldiers near the de facto maritime border in the Yellow Sea on Sept. 22, 2020, a day after going missing while on duty on board a fishery inspection vessel. His body was burned by the North.
The Moon administration announced Lee sought to defect to the North in what prosecutors believe was an attempt to prevent the incident from hampering inter-Korean relations.
Suh Hoon has been indicted on charges of abusing his power after he allegedly instructed the military and the Coast Guard the day after Lee’s killing to keep the case confidential.
He also allegedly ordered the Coast Guard to distribute press releases that falsely claimed a search was under way for the slain official, and the defense ministry and the Coast Guard to write reports and public statements that supported the defection claim.
The former defense minister, former National Intelligence Service (NIS) Director Park Jie-won and former NIS chief secretary Noh Eun-chae are all charged with ordering the deletion of intelligence and documents as part of the cover-up.
Former Coast Guard Commissioner General Kim Hong-hee has also been charged with distributing fabricated documents alleging the fisheries official’s possible defection.
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