NIS Created False and Downplayed Report on "Lee Jae-myung Terror Attack"

Gadeokdo Terror Investigation Task Force Releases Findings

Terrorist Act Not Designated After NIS Filed False Report

Police Complicit in Fabricating Reports on Crime Scene Cleaning

It has come to light that, during the Busan Gadeokdo attack involving President Lee Jaemyung, the National Intelligence Service (NIS) prepared a report containing false information, including downplaying the weapon used in the crime, and concluded that the incident did not constitute terrorism.

On July 16, the National Investigation Headquarters' Gadeokdo Terror Investigation Task Force (TF) of the National Police Agency announced to reporters that it has referred a total of seven individuals to prosecutors. The list includes Kim, a man in his 60s who assaulted then-Democratic Party of Korea leader Lee Jaemyung in January 2024, and one accomplice for aiding and abetting attempted murder; three NIS officials involved in the initial non-designation of the case as a terrorist act for preparing false official documents; and three police officers involved in cleaning the crime scene for destruction of evidence.

In January 2024, Lee Jae-myung, then leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, was discharged from Seoul National University Hospital eight days after a stabbing attack and is touching his neck during a statement. Photo by Jo Yongjun

First, a man in his 70s who was sent to prosecutors for aiding and abetting attempted murder and violating anti-terrorism law was found to be a former coworker of Kim and acted as an accomplice by encouraging the attack. Contrary to previous reports that he was excluded from the investigation for allegedly refusing to help, it was discovered that he in fact incited the crime.

The National Counter-Terrorism Committee had designated the incident as a "terrorist act" in January of this year. This was the first case designated as terrorism since the enactment of the Anti-Terrorism Act in 2016. However, it was revealed that NIS counter-terrorism department officials, despite the fact that the joint anti-terrorism investigation team in Busan did not conduct a terrorism-related investigation, prepared a joint investigation report. Among them, when asked for a legal review of whether the Gadeokdo incident constituted terrorism in late March last year, one NIS official included false information in the report by describing the weapon as a "box cutter," thus understating its lethality. The NIS subsequently concluded, based on this report, that the incident did not qualify as terrorism.

Police officers created a false report regarding the cleaning of the crime scene. The head of the relevant police station and others destroyed key evidence, such as bloodstains, before the scene could be properly examined, but drafted a report claiming, in order to evade responsibility for the controversy over the clean-up, that "the crime scene was cleaned in consultation with the investigation department." This report was later used to explain the clean-up process to the media, the National Assembly, and investigative agencies, which in turn prevented necessary follow-up actions from being taken.

The investigation found that before the Gadeokdo attack, the perpetrator had also attempted to attack President Lee during his visit to the Incheon Industrial Complex Fire Department. With this Incheon case confirmed, the number of known assassination attempts increased from five to six.

By timeline, the attempts were as follows: ▲ June 2023, Busan protest against Fukushima nuclear wastewater; ▲ July 2023, Seoul protest against Fukushima wastewater ocean dumping; ▲ December 2023, Busan meeting with victims of rental fraud; ▲ December 2023, "Kim Dae-jung on the Road" VIP screening in Seoul; ▲ December 2023, visit to Incheon Industrial Complex Fire Department in relation to a hotel fire in Namdong-gu, Incheon; ▲ January 2024, event in Bongha Village, South Gyeongsang Province. The attack was ultimately carried out in Gadeokdo, Busan in January 2024.

Suspicions that there may have been a mastermind behind the attack have not been substantiated. A member of the investigation task force explained, "After re-conducting a psychological profile of the perpetrator, it was determined that, since 2018, he has spent several hours a day watching YouTube content aligned with his political orientation, absorbing and selectively interpreting information consistent with his political beliefs, which led to increasingly extreme thinking," and added, "No evidence has been found to identify any other conspirators."

The investigation task force member stated, "We have thoroughly investigated all suspicions, including the existence of accomplices or masterminds, destruction of evidence through cleaning, and the circumstances of the initial non-designation of terrorism, and have conducted a rigorous investigation into all illegal activities." He added, "We carried out eight rounds of search and seizure at the NIS, the Office for Government Policy Coordination, the National Assembly, the police, and fire departments, and questioned 170 witnesses in a total of 235 interviews."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.