Former President Moon Jae-in waves goodbye to supporters in Seoul Station plaza after finishing his term in office and leaving for his private countryside home in southeastern Korea on May 10. (Kim Hye-yun/The Hankyoreh)

Former President Moon Jae-in expressed deep concern at prosecutors’ decision to request an arrest warrant for Suh Hoon, the former Blue House national security advisor, saying that a security issue is becoming the “subject of political strife” and that he hopes things “don’t cross any lines.”

The remarks show the former president’s strong dissatisfaction with the Yoon Suk-yeol government’s investigation into the 2020 death of a South Korean fisheries official, which has been directly targeting key national security figures from Moon’s time in office.

“At the time, the president gave final approval of the report regarding the death of the fisheries official after directly hearing reports from the Ministry of National Defense, the Coast Guard, and the National Intelligence Service,” Moon said in a statement released on Thursday through Youn Kun-young, a Democratic Party lawmaker.

“All the information and circumstances that could be obtained were analyzed and the truth was inferred to the extent possible. The president accepted this decision after directly going through the so-called special intelligence information,” the statement read.

At the time, some had strongly insinuated it was the president himself who came up with the conclusion that the fisheries official tried defecting to North Korea.

“As the government changed, the judgments made by the other ministries, which had been reported to the president and announced to the media, were reversed. While the information and circumstances on which these judgments were based have not changed at all, the conclusion has become the complete opposite,” the statement read.

This remark can be read as Moon’s way of saying that the prosecution’s investigation is proceeding in an unfair manner by accusing former officials of falsely trying to frame the official as a defector to the North.

Previously, former Defense Minister Suh Wook and former Korea Coast Guard Commissioner General Kim Hong-hee were also arrested on charges of abuse of authority for covering up this incident, but were released through a habeas corpus appeal.

Moon also said, "I express deep concern over the reckless actions that make security issues the subject of political strife, trample on the pride of public officials who have devoted themselves to national security for a long time, and incapacitate the security system.”

In response to the former president’s comments, a presidential office official only said, “It is not appropriate to comment on a matter currently under investigation.”

By Um Ji-won, staff reporter; Bae Ji-hyun, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]

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