Seoul: A special prosecutor looking into the 2023 death of a young Marine decided Wednesday not to pursue an appeal against a court ruling that found a former Marine investigator innocent of charges that he disobeyed an order when ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol was in office.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the decision by special prosecutor Lee Myeong-hyeon finalized the not-guilty verdict for former Col. Park Jung-hun, the top Marine investigator accused of defying an order related to his investigation into the death of Cpl. Chae Su-geun, who was swept away in a swollen stream during downpours in July 2023.

A district court had earlier found Park innocent of charges that he went ahead and referred his initial findings to police despite an order from higher-ups that he hold the planned police referral of the findings.

Military prosecutors appealed the ruling days later in January, but the independent counsel took over the case from military prosecutors recently and decided to drop the appeal.

The special counsel told reporters that he decided to drop the appeal against Park because the indictment constituted an "abuse of prosecutorial power," and said Park's transfer of the case records to police was a "lawful act."