Two top officials from the previous Moon Jae-in administration have refuted allegations that they mishandled the case of a fisheries official killed by North Korean soldiers in 2020.

Speaking at a joint press conference at the National Assembly on Thursday, former National Security Advisor Suh Hoon and former National Intelligence Service(NIS) chief Park Jie-won maintained that there was no problem with the government’s response to the shooting death of Lee Dae-jun near the western maritime border.

Park denied allegations that he ordered his secretary to delete 46 intelligence reports in violation of protocol, adding that if he had given such an order, NIS employees are no corrupt fools who obey such orders.

Suh, meanwhile, denied the conclusion by the Board of Audit and Inspection that he ordered attendees of a meeting at the presidential office to assert that Lee was killed while trying to defect to the North.

Pointing out that such a claim would offer no practical benefit to the administration, he said it is not possible to groundlessly fabricate details about citizens’ lives.

The prosecution under the Yoon Suk Yeol administration has expanded its investigation into the case amid speculation that the Moon government sought to manipulate or cover up Lee’s killing in an effort to appease the North.

South Korean coast guard officials initially purported that the fisheries official was attempting to defect to the North, but later retracted the claim in June after Yoon had taken office, telling reporters that there was no evidence to support it.