Prosecutors have requested arrest warrants for former Defense Minister Suh Wook and former Coast Guard Commissioner General Kim Hong-hee for their alleged mishandling of a case involving a Seoul fisheries official shot dead by North Korean soldiers in 2020.  

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office on Tuesday sought the first arrests in the investigation, which was launched after the family of Lee Dae-jun, the deceased official, filed a complaint in June.

Suh, former President Moon Jae-in's defense minister, is accused of ordering the deletion of classified military intelligence that challenged the government's assumption at the time that Lee had attempted to defect to the North, before being shot.

Last week, the Board of Audit and Inspection(BAI) had announced that its probe into the matter had concluded that the previous government intentionally distorted facts to make it appear as if Lee was shot while attempting to flee to the North, without any conclusive evidence. 

It also said 60 military intelligence reports were deleted from a government network system upon Suh's orders, following a ministerial meeting held the day after the incident.

The state spy agency also deleted 46 sets of similar documents around the same time.

Meanwhile, the former Coast Guard chief is accused of manipulating evidence to create the impression that the official had attempted to defect.

After placing Suh and Kim into custody, the prosecution plans to summon former National Intelligence Service(NIS) directors Suh Hoon and Park Jie-won for questioning.