As a result of investigating various circumstances, the Maritime Police Agency announced today (29) that it was determined that an official from the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, who had disappeared from the coast of Soyeonpyeong Island at the northern end of the West Sea, was attacked and died in North Korea.
Sung-Hyun Yoon, Director of Investigation Information at the Coast Guard, announced the results of the interim investigation at a briefing this morning.
The following is the full text of the briefing presentation.
『I will tell you the progress of the investigation related to the fishery guidance official who disappeared in the sea near Yeonpyeong Island.
First, before the briefing, I would like to express my deep consolation to my family.
Since the press briefing on the 24th, the coast guard has focused on investigating the disappearances and conducted an investigation with all the possibilities open, such as a simple stray accident, extreme choice prayer, and North Korea.
Over the years, we have conducted a variety of activities, including on-site surveys of fishing guidance ships, analysis of recorded video on closed circuit (CC) TV, surveys on people around the missing persons and financial relations, analysis of drift predictions related to the movement of missing persons, and confirmation of facts through visits to the Ministry of Defense.
First of all, I would like to tell you what the maritime police investigators visited the Ministry of Defense yesterday and confirmed.
First, the fact that the missing person was exhausted when it was discovered in the northern seas and was wearing a life jacket while relying on a floating object. Second, personal information such as his/her name, age, hometown, and height that only the missing person could know was carefully collected from the North. Third, we confirmed the circumstances in which the missing person expressed his intention to visit North Korea.
In particular, the investigation team judges that the possibility of a simple loss or extreme choice is very low given that the missing person was wearing a life jacket.
The following is the progress of the investigation into the live-action survey of fishing instructors and surrounding investigations.
The slippers left on the stern deck are identified as missing and are being genetically identified by the Noodle Tree through field surveys of the fishing instructor and through statements from colleagues.
The video was stored until 8:02 a.m. on September 20, the day before the disappearance due to a malfunction in the onboard CCTV. As a result of analyzing 731 saved videos, no important clues were found regarding the missing person.
Currently, the original CCTV hard disk has been submitted to the National Orchard for precise identification and is waiting for the analysis result.
Next, I will tell you the result of the drift prediction analysis related to the movement of the missing person to the north sea area.
According to the analysis results of four domestic institutions, including the National Oceanographic Research Institute, when considering the tide and tide at the time of disappearance, it was found that a simple drift would drift to the southwest while turning counterclockwise around Soyeonpyeong Island. There were significant distance differences from where the missing person was actually found.
Therefore, it was confirmed that there is a limit to drifting to the actual discovery location without artificial effort.
The maritime police investigation team was wearing a life jacket when the missing person was discovered in the north sea area, and the North knew the missing person's personal information in detail, the situation that the North had expressed intention to visit North Korea, the missing person knew the sea area around Yeonpyeong Island well, and the prediction analysis When the results are summarized, the missing person is judged to have fled North Korea.
We will proceed with the investigation with the confirmation of the information so far, the monitoring of the CCTV currently in progress, the records of the Internet portal and additional investigations of neighbors, and additional cooperation from the Ministry of Defense if necessary.
Thank you.”
(Photo = Yonhap News)