Acquittals of former officials confirmed in NK border murder cover-up case

Former National Security Adviser Suh Hoon, left, and Kim Hong-hee, a former Coast Guard chief, walk out of a courtroom at the Seoul High Court in southern Seoul, June 16, after being acquitted of involvement in an alleged cover-up of the 2020 murder of a fisheries official by North Korea. Yonhap

The prosecution said Tuesday it will not appeal the acquittals of two former government officials accused of covering up North Korea's murder of a South Korean fisheries official in 2020, finalizing the rulings.

Former National Security Adviser Suh Hoon and former Coast Guard Commissioner General Kim Hong-hee were acquitted by an appellate court last week of distributing false press releases to make it appear the fisheries official, Lee Dae-jun, was shot and killed while trying to defect to the North.

The Seoul High Prosecutors Office said that following a close review and consultations with the Supreme Prosecutors Office, it decided not to appeal the case further.

Lee was fatally shot by North Korean troops near the de facto maritime border in the Yellow Sea in September 2020, after going missing while on board a fishery inspection ship. His body was later burned by North Korean soldiers.

The then administration of President Moon Jae-in said Lee had sought to defect to the North, but prosecutors and critics accused the government of fabricating a lie to prevent the incident from hurting inter-Korean relations.