The prosecution is seeking one- to four-year prison terms for National Intelligence Service officials involved in forging evidence against a North Korean defector.
On Tuesday, the prosecutors demanded a four-year prison term for a midlevel NIS official identified as Kim for ordering his subordinates to forge against North Korean defector Yoo Woo-seong. Yoo was accused of spying for Pyongyang while working for the Seoul city government. He has since been acquitted of espionage.
The Seoul Central District Court will rule on the case on Oct. 28.
Kim and a number of NIS officials and collaborators are accused of forging Chinese immigration documents to prove that Yoo had entered North Korea when the courts threw out the case citing lack of evidence.
Along with Kim, the prosecution demanded a two-year term for a former NIS official identified as Lee and a one-year term for Lee In-chul, an NIS official who was serving as consul at the South Korean mission in Shenyang, China, when the forged documents were obtained. A three-year term has been requested for another NIS official identified by the surname Kwon.
Kwon, who served as the deputy consul general of the Korean mission in Shenyang, had attempted suicide in April while being questioned in connection with the case.
In addition, two-year and two-and-a-half-year terms have been requested for the two Korean-Chinese collaborators who allegedly provided the forgeries.
Kim, however, denies the allegations and claims that he was acting alone.
“I was unaware that the documents were forged as the collaborator in China was trusted,” Kim said in his final testimony.
“(I) acted alone in securing the documents, so the other indicted officials were not involved.”
Kwon and other NIS officials on trial also claimed that they were acting in accordance with the requests of the prosecutor in charge of the case against Yoo.
They claimed that the prosecutor had requested more evidence against Yoo, and that they were unable to refuse the request and objected to the fact that the prosecutor in question was not indicted.
Yoo, meanwhile, stated that he continues to face accusations despite having been acquitted, and called for an apology from the defendants.
koreaherald@heraldcorp.com
