High-ranking officials from the former government security line who were accused of concealing the shooting of a public official in the West Sea and carrying out a 'Wolbuk drive' denied the allegations in court.
Seoul Central District Court Criminal Agreement Part 25-2 (Dr. Park Jeong-je and Chief Judge Park Jeong-gil) held the first trial preparation date for former National Security Office Director Suh Hoon and former Defense Minister Seo-wook today (20th).
They did not appear in court in person, but expressed their position on the charges through their lawyers.
A lawyer for former Chief Seo said, "After the shooting incident, I never thought of covering it up, and it is difficult to agree with the claim that I made up facts that did not exist and drove them to North Korea."
Former Minister Seo's lawyer also said, "I ordered to limit the distribution of intelligence related to the case, but I never asked to delete it."
Park Ji-won, former director of the National Intelligence Service, former chief of staff of the National Intelligence Service, Roh Eun-chae, and former head of the Korea Coast Guard Kim Hong-hee, who were also indicted together, also said they were "denying the facts of the prosecution."
At around 1:00 am on September 23, 2020, the day after the late Lee Dae-joon, a public official at the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, was killed by the North Korean military, Seo told the Joint Chiefs of Staff and former Commissioner Kim to "maintain security" to cover up the fact of the attack at a related ministerial meeting. I am accused of (abuse of power, obstruction of exercise of rights).
Former Commissioner Kim is accused of distributing false data (creation and event of false public documents) regarding the possibility that Mr. Lee defected to North Korea according to instructions.
Director Park was indicted on charges of compromising former chief Seo's "maintaining security" and causing NIS employees to delete intelligence reports (violation of the National Intelligence Service Act).
Former Minister Seo was also investigated for having the Ministry of National Defense staff and others delete related intelligence.
The accused pointed out that it is difficult for the prosecution to exercise the right to defend by submitting a large amount of evidence in bulk.
Director Park's side demanded, "The prosecution bundled and submitted all the evidence of the prosecution of the other defendants, and the amount is 60,000 pages." "Please specify and separate the evidence related to each defendant."
The prosecution replied that it is difficult to organize the evidence separately as the criminal acts of the accused, who are accomplices, are a single case in a large frame.
The court decided to open another trial preparation date on the 27th to review the opinions of both sides and proceed with the procedure for removing evidence.
(Photo = Yonhap News)