South Korea arrests former top officials over 2020 killing
South Korea’s former defense minister and coast guard chief have been arrested over their alleged involvement in covering up facts and distorting the circumstances surrounding North Korea’s killing of a South Korean fisheries official in 2020 near the rivals’ tense sea border
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s former defense minister and coast guard chief were arrested Saturday over their alleged involvement in covering up facts and distorting the circumstances surrounding North Korea’s killing of a South Korean fisheries official in 2020 near the rivals’ tense sea border.
The arrests came as the government of conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol expands investigations into the 2020 killing and another border incident the year before that prompted criticism that Seoul’s previous liberal administration improperly appeased the North to improve ties.
The Seoul Central District Court said it granted prosecutors’ requests for arrest warrants on former Defense Minister Suh Wook and former Coast Guard Commissioner General Kim Hong-hee because it saw them as threats to destroy evidence or flee. The opposition liberal Democratic Party, which claims the investigations are being driven by Yoon’s political vendetta against his predecessor Moon Jae-in, had no immediate comment on the arrests.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office had been investigating Suh and Kim for suspected abuse of power and falsifying documents related to the 2020 case. It said Suh faces an additional allegation of destroying records.
