Reports shed new light on last hours of S.Korean slain by North in 2020

A investigation conducted by the government of South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has brought up new questions about the death of an official from the South Korean official in 2020 which the previous administration dismissed as a failed attempt to defect.

Documents that were reviewed by Reuters from an inquiry by the parliamentary committee along with the coast guard, and an organization that monitors human rights provide previously unpublished information about Lee Dae-jin. Lee was a state minister of fisheries who perished at sea in the hands by North Korean troops.The report by the parliament exposes that the coast guard did not follow the appropriate search procedures. Additionally, officials waited to announce that Lee was captured along with other ministries of the government that lawmakers believe could have resulted in the loss of Lee his life.

Lee's demise has turned into a controversial matter within South Korea, in part due to the struggle of his brother to get his name cleared. The administration prior to Moon Jae-in's presidency had painted Lee as a gambler who was fleeing financial debt, mental health problems and a miserable life.

There are numerous evidences of insufficient investigation and conclusion and a small number of senior officials of the coast guard as well as the presidential office or the military, have worked on ships,said Ha Tae-keung, one of the conservative lawmakers from the Yoon's Party who headed the inquiry by the parliamentary committee which ended in the middle of August.

Prosecutors are investigating high-ranking Moon administration officials for Lee's demise, including the national security adviser two ex-intelligence chiefs as well as a former defence minister and a deposed Coast Guard chief.

A spokesman for the office of the prosecutors who did not want to name the office due to the sensitive nature of the issue and said the office had acquired the information reported in the reports during their investigation and was examining it as part of the course of investigating. Prosecutors have filed arrest warrants for an ex-defence minister and the former chief of the coast guard. They will likely conclude their investigation in the coming weeks.

The Board of Audit and Inspection Auditor of the State announced on October. 14, that they demanded that the prosecutors examine 20 officials from five agencies for breaching their duties and in violation of the law of audit, without giving the details. Seven of those officials have already been subject to an investigation for criminal charges based on allegations that they altered results and bungled rescue efforts.

Former high-ranking officials and the Moon's party have criticized the parliamentary inquiry as a witch-hunt in the name of Yoon in his fight against political enemies.An assembly of lawmakers in the Moon administration issued an October statement stating that the audit agency and the prosecutors were working together to "deliberately manipulate and alter facts" to promote "political revenge" from Yoon's administration.

Yoon's office has stated that these authorities operate on their own and that it is not involved in their investigation.Reuters was unable to reach Moon. Youn Kun-young is an opposition lawmaker who is a representative of Moon who is a member of the parliamentary opposition, stated that the initial investigation was founded on military intelligence, and were not quickly conducted. He also said Moon should Moon should "no longer be hounded to provoke political reprisals."

BOTCHED RESCUE

On September. 22nd, 2020 Lee's coworkers reported the missing man to the fisheries ministry office who then informed the coast guard when Lee didn't show up for meals following the night shift at an official vessel that was monitoring fishing areas off the west coast of Korea, close to the maritime border with North Korea.The previously unsealed documents from the parliamentary probe that cite South Korean military officials, reveal that when Lee was discovered to be a target of North Koreans, he was held inside the lake for almost six hours while he floated into and out of consciousness as soldiers were interrogating him.

The soldiers found Lee at one point and it took two hours until they finally found him. They executed him with a gun and then burnt his corpse. At around 9:15 p.m. on September. 22nd The South's military spotted the border was engulfed in flames lasting 30 to 40 minutes. Then, they found the Lee is dead as per the investigation.

North Korea said at the time that its troops executed him according to COVID-19 regulations following an illegal crossing of the border but did not correctly identify himself.The report of the parliamentary committee concludes that the navy and coast guard did not follow the rules in their initial efforts to rescue in not seeking help from other vessels and the authorities close by.

While the coast guard claimed in the moment that Lee was trying to swim towards the north against the current and thus could have tried to escape in accordance with the report of the inquiry into the parliament the coast guard provided some of the oceanographic information, leaving out the possibility that currents might be dragging Lee to the north.

Following the incident, Lee was finally spotted by a boat in North Korean waters, a small group of top South Korean officials, including Moon's national security advisor, the chief of the national intelligence agency and defense minister - all of who face criminal probes over Lee's murder - didn't inform the foreign and unification ministries until after the government announced Lee's death on the same morning, Ha as well as other lawmakers from the conservative party wrote that in the report.

The government allowed him to be killed without proper emergency measures, and then manipulating evidence to justify his defection, lulling the public and misleading the public,they said in the report.The foreign ministry advised legislators in the month of June that, if it had been aware earlier that it was at risk, it could have asked for assistance from a number of Chinese ships that were nearby in the report. According to the Unification Ministry also said it could have directly approached the North.

The foreign ministry told Reuters that it didn't discover the Lee case until after his death and that it informed legislators about the potential for Chinese aid "while answering an hypothetical question."The ministry of unification declined to make a statement, in reference prosecutor's ongoing investigation.

A QUESTION OF DEFECT

The allegations of defection have affected Lee's family members, who did not hold his funeral until the end of last month, when the Yoon administration retracted the Moon government's assertions.

Lee's older brother Lee Rae Jin, claimed that two Moon's lawmakers made an offer days after Lee's death to establish funds for his family members if Lee's defection was confirmed by him. Moon's party is called known as the Democratic Party of Korea, and the two lawmakers Hwang Hee as well as Kim Cheolmin have denied publicly offering the fund.

The seven Lee's colleagues claimed that they had no reason to leave because Lee was a top performer in his job, was able to get along well with colleagues and had no interest in politics, as per the latest documents.

In an unreleased report which was issued in July 2021, National Human Rights Commission, an independent government entity conducting an investigation at the request of Lee's brother, concluded that the Coast Guard had exaggerated the amount of Lee's gambling debt, and made up its findings by declaring that his decision to leave was the result of an "escape from reality in a state of panic".

In June 2022 the coast guard apologized to the public for "causing confusion" and its head and eight other officials quit. Defence ministry also apologized.Prosecutors have re-searched the presidential archives as well as the office and residences that of two intelligence officers as well as an ex-defense minister and the former Coast Guard chief.

The audit bureau said that in their Oct. 14 report in its Oct. 14 statement that one former chief of spying, Park Jiewon is believed to have erased an intelligence report that concluded that it was difficult to determine whether Lee was attempting to leave the country.Which reported by best online slots malaysia.

Park has not responded to inquiries for comments. In a Facebook post from last week, he denied the removal of any evidence that could be related to the investigation. In an interview to a local television station back in the summer that the investigation was intended to "intimidating and discrediting" him, and that the investigation is politically driven.

The audit agency also claimed Suh Wook, who was the former defense minister, demanded that a number of intelligence reports in the Military Intelligence Management System erased in an effort to hide Lee's murder.The defence ministry has stated that Suh's view is that intelligence reports were erased in certain channels to block non-military groups from using them however, the original files were unaltered.