All defendants acquitted in West Sea shooting case as prosecutors drop final appeal

By Yang Geun-hyuk, The Herald Business

Prosecutors announced Tuesday they would not appeal to the Supreme Court against the acquittals of Seo Hoon, former Cheong Wa Dae national security director, and Kim Hong-hee, former Korea Coast Guard chief, who were cleared at both the first and second trials in the West Sea civil servant shooting case.

The Seoul High Prosecutors' Office said it had "carefully reviewed the likelihood of the Supreme Court accepting the appeal" in the second-instance ruling and, after consulting with the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, decided not to pursue further review.

Earlier, the Seoul High Court's Third Criminal Division, presided over by Judge Lee Seung-han, rejected the prosecution's appeal on June 16 and upheld the acquittals of Seo and Kim, who had been indicted on charges including fabrication and use of false official documents, defamation and posthumous defamation.

The case stems from the killing of Lee Dae-jin, a Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries civil servant, by North Korean troops in the West Sea in September 2020. The controversy erupted when the Moon Jae-in administration raised the possibility that Lee had defected to the North. After Yoon Suk Yeol took office, prosecutors launched an investigation at the request of the Board of Audit and Inspection. In December 2022, prosecutors indicted key figures from the Moon administration's security apparatus, alleging they had downplayed and concealed the shooting and publicly attributed Lee's death to a defection attempt out of concern over deteriorating inter-Korean relations.

Three other defendants in the case — Park Jie-won, former National Intelligence Service director and a Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker; Seo Wook, former minister of national defense; and Noh Eun-chae, former chief of staff to the NIS director — were acquitted at the first trial in December last year, and their acquittals became final after prosecutors chose not to appeal. At the time, prosecutors had appealed only against Seo Hoon and Kim, who had also been acquitted at the first trial alongside the other three.

With prosecutors' decision Tuesday not to seek a Supreme Court review of Seo and Kim's acquittals, all defendants indicted in the case have now been definitively cleared.