An appellate court has upheld the acquittals of former National Security Adviser Suh Hoon and former Coast Guard Commissioner General Kim Hong-hee, who faced charges related to an alleged cover-up of the 2020 murder of a South Korean fisheries official by North Korea.
The Seoul High Court ruled that while the then-President Moon Jae-in administration's announcement about the incident contained "rash" or "definitive" language, it did not constitute the drafting or distribution of "false information that did not conform to the truth."
In September 2020, the fisheries official, Lee Dae-jun, went missing from a fishery inspection ship and was later fatally shot by North Korean troops near the maritime border. His body was subsequently burned by North Korean soldiers.
Prosecutors had accused Suh of ordering the Coast Guard to issue a press release that falsely stated a search for Lee was underway while concealing his death, and that framed his disappearance as a defection. They alleged Kim followed these orders and disseminated false information regarding the possibility of defection.
This ruling by the Seoul High Court upholds a December decision by the Seoul Central District Court, which had acquitted Suh, Kim, and three other former senior security officials on charges of involvement in the alleged cover-up. The prosecution had appealed that initial acquittal.
