Former South Korean Security Adviser Arrested Over North Korea’s Killing of Fishery Official in 2020

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (R) shakes hands with Suh-hoon, South Korea's chief of the National Intelligence Service (NIS) at the truce village of Panmunjom inside the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas on April 27, 2018. Korea Summit Press Pool/via Reuters

South Korea’s former national security adviser was arrested on Saturday in connection with North Korea’s killing of a South Korean fishery official in 2020, for which the former Moon Jae-in administration was suspected of covering up evidence.

The Seoul Central District Court said it issued an arrest warrant for former national security adviser Suh Hoon due to concerns that Suh may attempt to destroy evidence, Yonhap News Agency reported.

Suh was arrested for allegedly covering up evidence relating to the case of 47-year-old Lee Dae-jun, who was fatally shot by North Korean troops in September 2020 while on duty on a fishing boat near the maritime border.

The government concluded at the time that Lee was killed while trying to defect to North Korea, but the coast guard said in June that there was no evidence to support this conclusion.

Suh was accused of manipulating evidence to conclude that Lee had intended to defect and of ordering the deletion of internal intelligence reports to conceal the fishery official’s killing.

South Korean authorities also arrested former defense minister Suh Wook and former coast guard commissioner general Kim Hong-hee in November for their alleged involvement in the suspected cover-up.

Former President Moon Jae-in’s Response

Former President Moon Jae-in issued a statement on Sunday following Suh’s arrest, describing Suh as “the best North Korea expert, strategist, and negotiator who participated in all North Korean negotiations.”

“It is hard to find an asset of trust equipped with years of experience and expertise like Suh Hoon. It is deeply regrettable that they took down such an asset,” Moon wrote in a Facebook post, without elaborating on the allegations.

Moon had previously accused the current government of making “national security” into “a subject of political strife,” a charge that the incumbent party has strongly denied on account that the investigation was conducted in accordance with the law.

In comments during a party meeting on Monday, Joo Ho-young, the ruling People Power Party’s floor leader, said the investigation is “being conducted legitimately in accordance with the judicial system. It’s no political revenge at all.”

The current government, headed by President Yoon Suk-yeol, is also investigating the repatriation of two North Korean fishermen in 2019 who reportedly killed 16 other men aboard their vessel. They expressed a desire to defect but Moon’s administration rejected their request as “insincere.”