Prosecutors indicted four senior officials from the Moon Jae-in administration in their investigation into the deportation of two North Korean sailors in November 2019.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office on Tuesday indicted former national security advisers Chung Eui-yong and Suh Hoon, former presidential chief of staff Noh Young-min and former unification minister Kim Yeon-chul without pretrial detention on charges of abuse of authority under the National Intelligence Service Act.

They are accused of issuing orders exceeding the briefs of public officials to forcibly deport the two North Koreans alleged to have killed 16 of their fellow sailors in November 2019 despite their express desire to defect.

The four former officials face charges of obstructing the two North Koreans from exercising their right to stand trial under domestic laws and procedures.

Suh is also suspected of deleting the sailors' defection request in the government's joint investigation team report and falsifying the report to make it appear that the probe had ended when it was still ongoing.