<Anchor> In



relation to the death of a public official in the West Sea, it was confirmed as a result of SBS coverage that the prosecution caught the allegation that former NIS chief Park Ji-won ordered the deletion of documents through a close aide, the chief of staff.

Prosecutors raided the National Intelligence Service and began to secure data.



This is an exclusive report by reporter Ahn Hee-jae.



<Reporter>



At 1 a.m. on September 23, 2020, the day after Lee Dae-jun, a public official of the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, was assassinated, an emergency ministerial meeting was convened with the presence of the Minister of Unification, Defense Ministers and the Director of the National Intelligence Service, presided over by Director Suh Hoon of the National Security Office.



It was held three times until 8 am on the 24th, after which the military and coast guard began to mention the possibility of Mr. Lee's voluntarily defecting to North Korea.



[Shin Dong-sam / then Chief of the Incheon Maritime Police Station (September 24, 2020): Considering the intelligence related to the Ministry of National Defense, we cannot rule out the possibility of voluntarily defecting to North Korea…

.]



Around this time, around the time when three relevant ministerial meetings were held, the prosecution discovered a circumstance that former Director Park Ji-won ordered the deletion of the intelligence report produced by the National Intelligence Service through a close aide, chief of staff A.



The instructions were delivered to the working group through the chief of secretary A, and it is known that the related documents have been deleted.



In the process, it is said that some employees objected, saying that the deletion of documents was unprecedented.



In the process of deleting the document, the prosecution conducted a raid on the National Intelligence Service to secure evidence that Park's instructions were actually implemented through the Chief of Staff.



It was a way of cooperating with the provision of data in the form of voluntary submission, as the NIS reported it after conducting its own investigation.



Documents related to the forced repatriation of North Korean defectors reported by the National Intelligence Service were also submitted.



Former Director Park Ji-won denied, "There is absolutely no fact that I have instructed the chief of staff to delete the report."



As soon as the prosecution finishes analyzing the confiscated items, they plan to summon the working-level staff suspected of being involved in the deletion of documents.



(Video coverage: Seol Min-hwan, video editing: Kim Jun-hee)