SEOUL– Former National Intelligence Service (NIS) Director Park Jie-won appeared before prosecutors Wednesday for questioning over alleged irregularities surrounding the controversial death of a government official at the hands of North Korea in 2020.
Park, who served as the NIS director under former President Moon Jae-in, is accused of involvement in the then administration’s ungrounded conclusion that the fisheries official was killed while attempting to defect to the North.
In July, the NIS filed a complaint with the prosecution against Park on charges of destroying intelligence documents in an attempt to corroborate the administration’s conclusion. Former National Security Adviser Suh Hoon has also been arrested and indicted on similar charges.
“I have not received any deletion order from either former President Moon Jae-in or National Security Adviser Suh Hoon,” Park told reporters before entering the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office for questioning.
Prosecutors suspect the then heads of the defense ministry and the NIS ordered the deletion of such reports inside their organizations at the instruction of Suh’s office.
Park served as the NIS chief from July 2020 to May 2022 until President Yoon Suk-yeol took office.
The Moon government concluded at the time that the official was killed while attempting to defect to the North, but that conclusion was overturned earlier this year as the Coast Guard announced it has found no concrete evidence backing the defection allegations.
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.
Source: Yonhap News Agency