<Anchor> In
connection with the death of a South Korean public official by North Korean forces in the West Sea, former Defense Minister Seo Wook and former Coast Guard Commissioner Kim Hong-hee were arrested early this morning (22nd).
It seems that the investigation towards the top of the Moon Jae-in government's security line will speed up.
This news is by Sohn Ki-joon.
<Reporter>
Two years ago, former defense minister Seo Wook was arrested on charges of deleting 60 cases of military secrets contrary to the government's judgment that the late Lee Dae-jun, a public official of the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, defected voluntarily to North Korea.
[Seo Wook/Former Defense Minister: (Are you sure you were instructed to write false information in the Joint Chiefs of Staff report?) …
…
.]
Former Coast Guard Commissioner Kim Hong-hee, who is accused of concealing evidence and distorting the results of experiments and voluntarily announcing the results of an investigation focusing on North Korea, was also arrested.
[Kim Hong-hee / Former Commissioner of the Coast Guard: (What is the basis for voluntarily defecting to North Korea? Is it true that you ordered the announcement of the results of the interim investigation?) …
…
.]
The Seoul Central District Court held a substantive examination of warrants against former Minister Suh in the morning and former Commissioner Kim in the afternoon.
In the process, the bereaved family of the late Lee Dae-jun rushed in and caused a brief commotion.
[Lee Rae-jin / Bereaved family of the late Lee Dae-joon: I think this case is an incident that should never be forgiven or passed on.]
Afterwards, the court said about both of them, saying, "There is a risk of destroying evidence and escaping" around 2 am today. An arrest warrant was issued.
Both of them were known to have denied the allegations in court, but they could not escape detention, as former Minister Suh protested that the deletion of data was a legitimate measure to prevent the disclosure of information to unrelated units.
As former Minister Seo and former Commissioner Kim were arrested at the same time, the prosecution's investigation into the high-ranking security line of the Moon Jae-in government, which had no instructions to delete related secrets and reports, gained momentum.
As the prosecution also raided the homes of former National Intelligence Service Director Park Ji-won and former National Security Director Seo Hoon, both of them are expected to be summoned by the prosecution soon.