politics
South Korean Prosecutors Decline Appeal, Finalizing Acquittals Over 2020 Defection Claim
The Seoul High Prosecutors Office said Tuesday it will not challenge last week's acquittals of two former officials. The rulings end a case tied to the 2020 killing of fisheries official Lee Dae-jun by North Korean troops.
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South Korean prosecutors said Tuesday they will not appeal the acquittals of two former government officials accused of issuing false statements about the 2020 killing of a fisheries official by North Korean troops. The Seoul High Prosecutors Office reached the decision after a review and consultations with the Supreme Prosecutors Office, Yonhap reported.
The move finalizes the acquittals of former National Security Adviser Suh Hoon and former Coast Guard Commissioner General Kim Hong-hee.
An appellate court cleared the two men last week of charges that they distributed press releases claiming Lee Dae-jun had been shot while trying to defect to North Korea. Suh Hoon and Kim Hong-hee left the Seoul High Court in southern Seoul on June 16 after the ruling. Lee was fatally shot by North Korean troops near the de facto maritime border in the Yellow Sea in September 2020.
He had gone missing from a fishery inspection ship, and his body was later burned by North Korean soldiers, Yonhap reported. The administration of then-President Moon Jae-in stated that Lee had sought to defect. Prosecutors later accused the government of fabricating the account to protect inter-Korean relations.
