Family of South Korean official killed by North in 2020 appeals to U.S. President Trump in letter
Published: 01 Jan. 2026, 19:39
![A funeral service for the late Lee Dae-jun, a public official killed by North Korean military personnel in the Yellow Sea, is held at a funeral hall in Mokpo, South Jeolla, on Sept. 22, 2022. [YONHAP]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2026/01/01/7082c48b-b7cc-4b89-990c-0c311eff9950.jpg)
A funeral service for the late Lee Dae-jun, a public official killed by North Korean military personnel in the Yellow Sea, is held at a funeral hall in Mokpo, South Jeolla, on Sept. 22, 2022. [YONHAP]
The family of Lee Dae-jun, a South Korean fisheries official killed by North Korean forces in 2020, is sending a letter to U.S. President Donald Trump, seeking international attention after concluding that the case can no longer be resolved through South Korea’s legal system.
In a two-page letter reviewed by The JoongAng Ilbo, the family said the case is “not a simple domestic political issue but a grave human rights matter” that raises questions about how the South Korean state treated the life and dignity of one of its own citizens. The family said it decided to appeal to Trump because it no longer has confidence in President Lee Jae Myung's administration.
Lee Dae-jun was shot and killed by North Korean soldiers in the Yellow Sea on Sept. 22, 2020. His body was later burned. South Korean officials initially described him as having defected to the North, a claim that has since been repeatedly disputed and revised.
The family said the case has “repeatedly been reversed depending on the political orientation of the administration,” describing how it was labeled “a defection to North Korea, then not a defection, and then once again a defection.” They said the incident has been “politically exploited,” forcing the bereaved family to endure repeated “suffering inflicted by the state on top of the grief of losing a loved one.”
The letter states that the government was aware through intelligence of the entire sequence of events, including the victim being discovered in North Korean waters, dragged around, shot dead and his body burned, yet took no action to rescue or repatriate him. It accuses the government of branding the victim a voluntary defector to evade responsibility.
The family also wrote that despite winning a first-instance lawsuit seeking disclosure of information, relevant records were sealed after being designated as presidential archives and withheld on the grounds of military secrecy.
They pointed out that the Seoul Central District Court on Dec. 26 last year acquitted all defendants, including former national security adviser Suh Hoon, liberal Democratic Party Rep. Park Jie-won, a former director of the National Intelligence Service, and former Defense Minister Suh Wook, concluding that “no one has ultimately been held accountable for this case.”
![The wife of the late Lee Dae-jun sheds tears as she reads aloud a letter written by her son to then-President Yoon Suk Yeol on June 17, 2022. [YONHAP]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2026/01/01/49971ed4-098e-473c-baf3-2b40d202c812.jpg)
The wife of the late Lee Dae-jun sheds tears as she reads aloud a letter written by her son to then-President Yoon Suk Yeol on June 17, 2022. [YONHAP]
The family criticized comments made after the ruling by President Lee, who said prosecutors had indicted the defendants using “strange logic,” and by Prime Minister Kim Min-seok, who described the case as an “excessive application of legal principles” and a “fabricated indictment.”
The letter argues that such remarks protect the defendants and undermine the prosecution rather than addressing responsibility for the victim’s death and the state’s failure to rescue him, calling this “another form of state violence” and a clear violation of human rights.
The family also cited Trump’s claim in May 2024 that white farmers were being massacred in South Africa, saying that just as he “showed deep concern for human rights violations then, this case likewise deserves serious attention from the international community.”
The family previously sent a three-page A4 letter through the U.S. Embassy in January 2024, shortly after Trump took office, requesting interest in the Yellow Sea shooting case.
![Lee Rae-jin, the older brother of the late Lee Dae-jun, answers reporters’ questions after attending a first-instance court ruling at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho District, southern Seoul, on Dec. 26, 2025. [NEWS1]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2026/01/01/c28d49fc-abfe-4a99-a5d1-c6142e8eafde.jpg)
Lee Rae-jin, the older brother of the late Lee Dae-jun, answers reporters’ questions after attending a first-instance court ruling at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho District, southern Seoul, on Dec. 26, 2025. [NEWS1]
They are scheduled to meet embassy officials on Friday to discuss how to deliver the latest letter. The family claims the official told them the letter would be delivered to Trump.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Kim on Dec. 30, 2024, publicly urged prosecutors to drop their appeal over the alleged cover-up of the Yellow Sea shooting incident, saying at a Cabinet meeting, “Isn’t it natural to give up the appeal?”
The National Intelligence Service also withdrew its complaints against Suh and Park following the acquittal. Legal circles interpret these moves as groundwork for abandoning an appeal. The prosecution’s deadline to file an appeal expires Friday.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY KIM SEONG-JIN, JEONG JIN-HO [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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