(ATTN: RECASTS headline; UPDATES paras 1-3, 6-8 with newest data; REPLACES photographs)
SEOUL, Aug. 16 (Yonhap) — Prosecutors raided the homes of three former prime nationwide safety officers Tuesday as a part of an investigation into the earlier administration’s dealing with of the dying of a fisheries official by the hands of North Korea in 2020.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors Workplace despatched a crew of prosecutors and investigators every to the properties of former Nationwide Intelligence Service Director Park Jie-won, former Nationwide Safety Adviser Suh Hoon and former Protection Minister Suh Wook to grab proof, in accordance with authorized sources.
Prosecutors additionally searched a number of different locations, together with army models beneath the protection ministry and the Korea Coast Guard.
The searches are a part of a probe into suspicions that the earlier Moon Jae-in administration mishandled the dying of the 47-year-old official, Lee Dae-jun, in September 2020, together with concluding with out concrete proof that he was killed whereas making an attempt to defect to the North.
The case was seemed into once more since President Yoon Suk-yeol took workplace in Might, and the Coast Guard overturned the sooner conclusion and stated it discovered no concrete proof backing allegations that the official tried to defect.
Park is beneath suspicion of ordering the deletion of inside intelligence experiences suggesting the likelihood that Lee went adrift and ended up in North Korean waters by chance, whereas the previous nationwide safety adviser allegedly instructed officers to border Lee’s dying as a “voluntary defection” case.
Former Protection Minister Suh additionally allegedly instructed officers to delete associated categorised army data, comparable to these gleaned by wiretapping.
Prosecutors are anticipated to summon the officers for questioning after analyzing the seized supplies.
