Prosecutor commits suicide over spy agency's political meddling

By Lim Chang-won Posted : November 6, 2017, 18:07 Updated : November 6, 2017, 18:07

[Yonhap News Photo]


A 48-year-old state prosecutor jumped off a building in an apparent suicide before appearing in a court hearing to review his arrest on charges of helping South Korea's spy agency cover up illegal political activities.

Byun Chang-hoon of the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office was pronounced dead at a hospital after he jumped off a four-story building through the window of a law firm's bathroom in southern Seoul. The suicide came shortly after a court hearing was to review a request for his arrest.

No suicide note was found, but investigations concluded that Byun appeared to have killed himself.  Along with two other prosecutors accused of covering up election meddling by the National Intelligence Service (NIS), Byun was to appear in a court hearing.

When an investigation was launched in 2013 into political activities by intelligence officials after jailed ex-president Park Geun-hye took office, Byun and his colleagues allegedly helped the spy agency set bogus offices and produced fake documents to avoid legal punishment.

Byun was the second to die since a special team of prosecutors opened an investigation into alleged wrongdoing by government and intelligence officials under jailed ex-president Park Geun-hye. On October 31, a lawyer for the spy agency was found dead in a parking lot in the eastern city of Chuncheon.

On Saturday, a court approved an arrest warrant for Choo Myeong-ho, a former senior NIS official involved in the spy agency's interference in domestic politics and blacklisting celebrities.


 
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