Former President Moon Jae-in Not Prosecuted in West Sea Official's Death Case

Prosecutors have decided not to indict former South Korean President Moon Jae-in on charges of abuse of power and falsifying official documents. The charges stemmed from a civil society group's complaint concerning the "West Sea public official shooting incident." The decision comes approximately three years and seven months after the complaint was filed. The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office stated on October 22 that insufficient evidence led to the non-prosecution of Moon. The "West Sea public official shooting incident" refers to the case of a Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries official, identified as the late Lee Dae-jun, who went missing in September 2020 while on a fisheries patrol vessel in the West Sea. He was subsequently killed by North Korean forces. During the Moon Jae-in administration, the Coast Guard initially concluded that Lee had voluntarily defected to North Korea. However, this conclusion was overturned after the Yoon Suk-yeol administration took office in 2022, with new investigations suggesting there was insufficient evidence to support the voluntary defection claim, leading to significant controversy. Following the reversal, a civic group filed a complaint against Moon, asserting that he was the ultimate approving authority for the initial findings.