The Corruption Investigation Agency has launched a raid on Park Sang-chun, the former chief of the Jeju Coast Guard, in connection with allegations of perjury related to the West Sea civil servant shooting incident.
According to Yonhap News on July 16, the agency's investigation team sent officials to the Coast Guard headquarters and the Incheon Coast Guard office to conduct searches.
The items being seized include Park's mobile phone, work logs, emails, and messenger records.
Park was previously reported to have been accused of perjury during a parliamentary investigation into the shooting incident involving Lee Dae-jun, a civil servant from the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, who was shot dead by North Korean forces in September 2020. Initially, the Coast Guard stated that Lee had attempted to defect to North Korea. However, following the inauguration of the Yoon Suk Yeol administration, the investigation results were reversed in June 2022, stating that no intent to defect was found.
At the time, Park, who was the head of the Incheon Coast Guard, was responsible for announcing the reversal of the investigation results.
Yoon Seong-hyun, the former head of the Coast Guard's investigation information division, has claimed that Park expressed to him the day before the briefing, "I don't really want to announce this, but the chief is making me do it. I've never investigated anything like this before, and I don't even know the basics of an investigation, but it seems I have no choice right now."
During the parliamentary investigation in April, Park denied allegations of higher-ups' involvement in the reversal process, responding to Yoon's claims by saying, "I have no recollection of that."
The West Sea civil servant shooting incident occurred on September 21, 2020, when Lee Dae-jun went missing in waters south of the South Korean island of Soyeonpyeong and was shot dead by North Korean forces the following day. Lee was 47 years old at the time.
The prosecution has determined that the Moon Jae-in administration attempted to downplay and cover up the incident, leading to the indictment of former National Security Office chief Suh Hoon, former Coast Guard chief Kim Hong-hee, former National Intelligence Service director Park Ji-won, and former Defense Minister Seo Wook. However, the first trial court acquitted all of them.
Park and Seo were confirmed not guilty after the prosecution chose not to appeal. In the cases of Suh and Kim, the prosecution appealed the acquittal on charges of distributing false press releases, but they were also acquitted in the second trial. The prosecution later abandoned its appeal, solidifying their acquittals.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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