Ex-top security officials acquitted over alleged cover-up of 2020 border killing by N. Korea

Former National Security Adviser Suh Hoon appears at the Seoul Central District Court in southern Seoul, Friday, for his trial on charges of involvement in a cover-up of North Korea's killing of a fisheries official in 2020. Yonhap

Former top security officials from former President Moon Jae-in's administration were acquitted Friday on charges of involvement in an alleged cover-up of the 2020 murder of a South Korean fisheries official by North Korea.

The Seoul Central District Court found former National Security Adviser Suh Hoon, former National Intelligence Service (NIS) Director Park Jie-won and former Defense Minister Suh-wook not guilty for allegedly trying to cover up the incident, citing a lack of evidence.

Former Coast Guard Commissioner General Kim Hong-hee and former NIS chief secretary Noh Eun-chae were also acquitted.

The case goes back to Sept. 22, 2020, when the fisheries official, Lee Dae-jun, was fatally shot by North Korean soldiers near the de facto maritime border in the Yellow Sea, a day after going missing while on board a fishery inspection ship. His body was burned by the North.

At the time, the Moon administration said Lee had sought to defect to the North, but prosecutors have argued the announcement was driven by concerns the incident could worsen inter-Korean relations and that officials attempted to cover it up.

The court determined that the defendants lacked sufficient motive to cover up the official's death and the subsequent burning of his body, citing the former president's orders at the time to disclose confirmed facts to the public.

"By the prosecution's arguments it would mean they disobeyed the president's orders, which is difficult to accept," the court bench said.

It also found it difficult to clearly recognize that the defendants allegedly pushed to portray the incident as a defection.

The bench said the judgment of a defection should be respected even if it is false as it was made with limited information available at the time.

The former national security adviser and the former spy chief voiced relief at the court ruling, with the latter vowing to push for reform to prevent the politicization of the prosecution and the intelligence service.

Meanwhile, the late official's brother, who attended the hearing, told reporters he found the ruling "nonsensical," saying he would work with others to determine how to fight it.

The case received renewed attention after the launch of former President Yoon Suk Yeol's administration in 2022, with the state audit agency requesting the prosecution investigate the case.

Prosecutors indicted the former security adviser on charges of instructing the military and the Coast Guard the day after Lee's killing to keep the case confidential.

The former Coast Guard chief was indicted on charges of acting on Suh's orders and distributing alleged false documents about the possibility of the official's defection.

The former defense minister, Park and Noh were charged with ordering the deletion of intelligence and documents as part of the alleged cover-up.

Prosecutors had requested a four-year prison term for the former security adviser, a two-year term for Park and a three-year term for the former defense minister.