Ex-defense minister released after arrest in fisheries official death case

SEOUL, Oct. 8 (Yonhap) -- A Seoul court approved the release of former Defense Minister Suh Wook on Tuesday, 17 days after he was arrested in connection with the 2020 death of a fisheries official at the hands of North Korea.

Suh, 59, was arrested on Oct. 22 as part of the prosecution investigation into the previous Moon Jae-in administration's alleged mishandling of the fisheries official's death near the Yellow Sea border between the two Koreas by the North's coast guard.

The Moon administration concluded at that time the official was killed while attempting to defect to the North, but critics suspected the conclusion was drawn without sufficient evidence to curry favor with Pyongyang.

Suh has been accused of having deliberately ordered the deletion of intelligence reports suggesting the fisheries official did not intend to defect to the North.

On Tuesday, the Seoul Central District Court decided in favor of Suh's request to reconsider the legality of his arrest following a court hearing a day earlier.

pbr@yna.co.kr
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