[CAPTIONS] In 2024, then-Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung is transported by helicopter after being attacked in Gadeok Island, Busan. Yonhap News - Seoul Economic Daily Society News from South Korea[CAPTIONS]
In 2024, then-Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung is transported by helicopter after being attacked in Gadeok Island, Busan. Yonhap News

Police investigating allegations of a cover-up surrounding the assault on President Lee Jae-myung on Gadeok Island have referred three National Intelligence Service (NIS) officials to prosecutors, including former chief prosecutor Kim Sang-min, who is accused of drafting a false legal review report to prevent the case from being designated as terrorism. After six months of investigation, police confirmed evidence of false reporting and destruction of evidence, but concluded there was no involvement of any masterminds, as had been alleged by some in political circles.

The National Office of Investigation’s Gadeok Island terrorism case task force (TF) referred three NIS officials, including former prosecutor Kim, to prosecutors on the 16th on charges of drafting false official documents. Including the three police officials and one accomplice referred in April this year, a total of seven people have been handed over to prosecutors in connection with the case.

According to police, Kim is accused of drafting a false legal review report last year, at the request of the NIS counterterrorism department, in which he assessed whether the case constituted terrorism. In the report, he allegedly downplayed the 18-centimeter modified weapon actually used in the attack as a “utility knife.” Police determined that based on this, the NIS notified relevant government ministries of a conclusion that the case did not constitute terrorism.

Police found that Kim did not simply offer a legal opinion but intentionally downplayed the weapon to influence the conclusion that the incident was not terrorism. “After comprehensively reviewing the various materials, statements, and the circumstances of how the report was drafted, we found there was intent,” a police official said. “We judged that this was not a simple mistake in expression, but that he wrote it that way despite being aware it was not the actual weapon used in the crime.”

During the investigation, police also confirmed additional attack attempts by the killer, Kim Jin-sung. A reanalysis, including forensic examination of his mobile phone, found that Kim had approached President Lee while carrying a weapon at an event related to a hotel fire in Namdong-gu, Incheon, in December 2023. Police determined that Kim made a total of six attempts before carrying out the attack on Gadeok Island in Busan in January 2024.

However, police concluded that there were no separate masterminds. Profiling results showed that Kim had watched YouTube content matching his political leanings over a long period, reinforcing his confirmation bias, and analyzed that he had decided to commit the crime alone as a result.

Police also confirmed that immediately after the incident, the then-chief of the district police station and others ordered the site to be washed down before on-site forensics and evidence collection were complete, and subsequently drafted false reports. They referred three police officials to prosecutors on charges of abuse of authority obstructing the exercise of rights, destruction of evidence, and drafting false official documents. A coworker who aided the crime by promising to dispose of belongings and deliver a memo despite knowing the attack plan was also handed over to prosecutors on charges of aiding attempted murder and violating the Anti-Terrorism Act.

In January this year, the government designated the case as the country’s “first officially recognized terrorism case” and formed a dedicated 69-member TF. Over six months, the TF conducted eight search-and-seizure operations, questioned 170 witnesses, and analyzed some 9,000 pages of investigation and trial records and 1,388 YouTube videos, before recently scaling down to 13 members and concluding the investigation.

Some assessments hold that despite police forming a large dedicated organization and investigating for nearly half a year, they only confirmed a limited set of charges, such as additional accomplices and false reporting, falling short of expectations in clarifying the initial allegations of an organized cover-up or masterminds. In particular, critics note that given that the government launched a reinvestigation by forming a separate TF after taking office, the investigative results were limited compared with the political controversy.