SEOUL– Prosecutors on Wednesday questioned a former deputy director of the presidential National Security Office as part of an investigation connected to the 2020 death of a fisheries official at the hands of North Korea.
Suh Choo-suk, former first deputy director of Cheong Wa Dae’s National Security Office, was accused of involvement in the previous administration’s conclusion without sufficient evidence that the fisheries official was killed while attempting to defect to the North.
The 47-year-old fisheries official was fatally shot by the North’s coast guard near the Yellow Sea border between the two Koreas, a day after going missing while on duty on board a fishery inspection vessel.
Former President Moon Jae-in’s government at that time concluded the official was shot and killed while trying to defect to the North. But the Coast Guard and the military reversed the conclusion in June, saying there was no evidence to suggest such motives.
According to recent findings by the Board of Audit and Inspection, 60 military intelligence reports and 46 other intelligence reports by the National Intelligence Service were deleted under the direction of the National Security Office.
The focus of the Wednesday questioning is reportedly on the office’s decision-making process on the issue.
Following the questioning, prosecutors are expected to summon former National Security Adviser Suh and former spy chief Park Jie-won for interrogation.
Source: Yonhap News Agency