Seoul spy agency files charges against ex-chiefs over NKorea

6/7/2022 19:10

        South Korea's spy agency filed charges on Wednesday against two of its former directors over their handling of separate border incidents with North Korea in recent years which prompted criticism that Seoul's previous liberal government improperly appeased the North to improve ties.
        
        The National Intelligence Service accused former director Park Jie-won, who served from 2020 to May this year, of destroying intelligence reports related to North Korea’s fatal shooting of an unarmed South Korean citizen in waters near the countries' western sea border in 2020.
        
        In a statement, the agency also alleged that Park's predecessor, Suh Hoon, forcibly closed an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the 2019 repatriation of two North Korean fisherman captured in South Korean waters.
        
        The two incidents have tainted the legacy of former President Moon Jae-in, who staked his single five-year term on inter-Korean engagement but faced accusations of appeasing a nuclear-armed rival with a brutal human rights record. The cases are being reviewed under the government of current conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol, who won a March election on a platform of taking a tougher stance toward North Korean provocations.