Incumbent, former presidents clash again over sealed information

Yoon hints at disclosure of information about death of fisheries official

By Nam Hyun-woo

A feud between President Yoon Suk-yeol and his predecessor, Moon Jae-in, deepened Monday after Yoon hinted at disclosing information that was sealed during the previous administration.

Yoon's move came as the main opposition party accused him and the ruling party of stoking anti-communist sentiments by linking the death of a fisheries official to the Moon administration's attempt to curry favor with the communist North Korea.

During an impromptu meeting with reporters, Monday, Yoon showed his intention to disclose more information that the Moon administration refused to reveal.

“It has been my position that the government should defend the spirit of the Constitution such as free democracy and the rule of law,” Yoon said when asked whether he was willing to disclose information sealed during the Moon administration.

“The country's top priority is to protect its people, and it will be problematic if the government is reluctant to address any questions raised by the public related to this,” he added.

The fisheries official was shot and killed by North Korean soldiers near the western sea border on Sept. 22, 2020, after going missing while on duty on board a fishery inspection boat.

The Moon administration explained that the official, Lee Dae-joon, appeared to have attempted to defect to North Korea, but the bereaved family has strongly questioned the announcement, demanding the presidential office reveal information related to the case.

The bereaved family filed a suit against the Moon Jae-in administration to reveal information related to the official's death. An administrative court ruled in favor of the bereaved family, but the Moon Jae-in administration appealed that ruling.

After Yoon became president, the presidential office withdrew that appeal.

Also, the Coast Guard and the Ministry of National Defense reversed the Moon government's explanation, saying they failed to find evidence proving Lee's intention to defect to the North.

As a result, the presidential office is now reviewing all lawsuits on information that the previous government has refused to disclose.

“We are now looking into overall cases, without specifying a certain one,” an official at the presidential office said.

One such lawsuit is related to expenditures for former first lady Kim Jung-sook's clothing.

Along with the presidential office's efforts to reveal the Moon government's sealed information, the prosecution is now investigating Baek Woon-gyu, who served as the industry minister during the Moon administration. Baek is under fire for allegedly forcing 13 chiefs of public agencies under the ministry to resign after Moon took office in May 2017.

The mounting pressure has drawn hostile responses from the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK). It has denounced the Yoon administration and the ruling People Power Party (PPP) for accusing the liberal bloc of yielding to North Korea.

“The current efforts by the ruling bloc is a new type of McCarthyism of creating a false image that the DPK is a pro-North Korea party,” DPK interim chief Woo Sang-ho said of the PPP's accusations regarding the fishery official's death during a press conference on Sunday.

“With the DPK holding a majority of seats in the National Assembly, the government needs the opposition bloc's cooperation to overcome economic difficulties,” Woo said. “The authorities' pressure on the opposition bloc does not seem to show an intention to overcome the current economic crisis.”

DPK Rep. Youn Kun-young, who is one of the close aides to the former president, said in a radio interview that the Yoon government “appears to be exploiting sensitive military information for political purposes” and “using North Korea to dent the Moon administration's image.”