Overview
- Prosecutors said they will appeal parts of the Dec. 26 ruling, targeting former national security adviser Suh Hoon and former Coast Guard chief Kim Hong-hee, while dropping an appeal against former NIS director Park Jie-won.
- The Seoul Central District Court had acquitted five former officials over alleged efforts to conceal circumstances of the 2020 shooting and burning of fisheries official Lee Dae-jun by North Korean soldiers.
- The case has drawn scrutiny over prosecutorial independence after President Lee Jae Myung and Prime Minister Kim Min-seok publicly criticized the indictments, and the National Intelligence Service withdrew related complaints.
- Lee Dae-jun’s family delivered a letter to U.S. President Trump via the U.S. Embassy seeking international attention, arguing the case is a human-rights matter and urging accountability.
- Access to key materials remains constrained, with records sealed as presidential archives and reporting that more than 5,000 documents were deleted by security agencies, complicating efforts to establish a full timeline.