S. Korea arrests former national security chief over fisheries murder

SEOUL: South Korea arrested a former national security chief on Saturday, charged with covering up events surrounding the 2020 murder of a fisheries official by Pyongyang.

President Yoon Suk-yeol is launching an inquiry into the highly politicized case after accusations that his predecessor mishandled the probe to curry favor with North Korea.

Suh Hoon is the first top official in the presidential office of former leader Moon Jae-in to be arrested over the case.

He is accused of ordering intelligence reports to be destroyed to conceal the killing of fisheries official Lee Dae-jun, who died near the sea border between North and South Korea.

The former top security official faces allegations that he manipulated evidence to support the Moon government's claim that the late fisheries official had tried to defect to the North.

Judge Kim Jeong-min of the Seoul Central District Court issued an arrest warrant for Suh on Saturday, citing the seriousness of the crime, the status of the suspect and the risk of destroying evidence. A spokesman for President Yoon's People Power Party confirmed the arrest in a statement.

Suh Hoon, the former chief of the Blue House's National Security Office, was arrested early this morning, Park Jung-ha said.

In October, ex-defence minister Suh Wook and former coast guard chief Kim Hong-hee were arrested over the same case.