Ruling party slams ex-President Moon for criticizing probe into slain official case

SEOUL– The ruling People Power Party (PPP) on Friday slammed former President Moon Jae-in for criticizing the prosecution’s ongoing investigation into the 2020 death of a South Korean fisheries official at the hands of North Korea.

The tit for tat by the PPP floor leader Joo Ho-young came a day after Moon expressed “deep concern over making a matter of national security a subject of political strife” as prosecutors stepped closer to the arrest of Moon’s former top aides over the case.

“Moon seems to be trying to keep everything related to him in the sanctuary,” Joo said in a party meeting, arguing that Moon confessed his direct involvement in the case.

Moon said his administration reached a conclusion that the official was killed while attempting to defect to the North, based on all the intelligence and circumstantial evidence it could get at the time, and he approved the conclusion himself.

It was the first time Moon has publicly expressed his official stance on the probe since the incumbent government overturned in June the preceding Moon government’s assessment that the official had tried to defect to the North.
Lee Dae-jun, the 47-year-old fisheries official, was fatally shot by the North’s coast guard near the Yellow Sea border between the two Koreas on Sept. 22, 2020, a day after going missing while on duty on board a fishery inspection vessel.

In June, the Coast Guard and the military reversed the Moon administration’s conclusion, saying there was no evidence to suggest the deceased official had a motive to defect.

Since then, the prosecution has been looking into the possibility that the Moon government manipulated the case to curry favor with Pyongyang and questioning former top security officials, including former Defense Minister Suk Wook. On Tuesday, prosecutors sought an arrest warrant for former National Security Adviser Suh Hoon over the case.

“The bereaved family is once again crying out with rage at the shamelessness of former President Moon and the Democratic Party,” PPP spokesperson Yang Kum-hee said, noting that the former security adviser is accused of destroying evidence that counters the former government’s announcement the slain official attempted to defect.

Yang added the case is a “social disaster” where the Moon administration abandoned its public servant and damaged the reputation of the servant and his mourning family.

Source: Yonhap News Agency

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