Prosecutors drop abuse of power charges against former President Moon Jae-in in West Sea incident case

Prosecutors have closed the case against former President Moon Jae-in, deciding not to indict him on charges of abuse of power and document forgery related to the 2020 West Sea shooting death of a fisheries official. The decision, made by the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, comes more than three years after the civic group Freedom Korea claimed Moon abused his authority.

The incident involved Lee Dae-jun, a fisheries official who was shot and killed by North Korean forces in September 2020. The prosecution's decision follows the recent acquittal of former National Intelligence Service Director Park Jie-won and other security officials from the Moon administration, who had been accused of ordering the cover-up and downplaying of the incident.

Freedom Korea had accused Moon of abusing his power and forging official documents, alleging he approved the final report after receiving briefings from the Ministry of National Defense, Coast Guard, and National Intelligence Service. However, prosecutors cited insufficient evidence in their decision to drop the charges against the former president.