Attorney Kim Young-soo, interview with Yonhap News… “It is certain that Moon Se-kwang committed a solo crime.”
“Responsible for the outrageous security failure… Assassin(s) cannot distort real people.”
(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Choi Won-jeong = The prosecutor who directly investigated and sentenced Moon Se-gwang (1951-1974), the sniper of First Lady Yuk Young-soo, to the death sentence, directly refuted the theory behind Park Chung-hee in the movie “Assassin(s),” calling it a “nonsense story.”
Attorney Kim Young-soo (84), who was a member of the Seoul District Prosecutors' Public Security Department and participated in the special investigation headquarters at the time of the incident, said in a phone interview with Yonhap News on the 3rd, "This is a case where all the facts have already been revealed through on-site verification."
Next, he continued to click his tongue about the various conspiracy theories surrounding the assassination of First Lady Yuk Young-soo, calling them "pathetic."
Regarding the possibility of an accomplice's involvement, he said, "It is certain that Moon Se-gwang committed the crime alone," and declared, "This was an incident in which he boarded the North Korean Mangyongbong, received ideological education and instructions from an agent, became conscious, and attempted to kill President Park Chung-hee."
He was dispatched to the investigative headquarters on August 15, 1974, the day First Lady Yuk Young-soo was shot at the Liberation Day ceremony, and investigated Mun Se-gwang, a Korean-Japanese resident in Japan, who was arrested as the criminal, and participated as a party in the process of seeking and executing the death penalty. It is said that he was the youngest of the three prosecutors dispatched to the investigation headquarters.
Immediately after diplomatic documents related to the incident were released in 2005, conspiracy theories emerged and he received several requests for interviews, but he refrained from commenting, saying, "I have nothing to say other than what was indicted."
The reason why Attorney Kim spoke out in person for the first time in 52 years was because he felt that he could not just ignore the fact that conspiracy theories misleading the truth were spreading as if they were true after the release of the movie Assassin(s) last month.
He said, “When (the conspiracy theory) first came out, I never thought a movie like this would come out,” and added, “It is worrisome for the Republic of Korea that false stories that seem to be modeled after North Korea’s claims are being spread.”
He continued, "I don't know how the incident was distorted because I haven't seen the movie," and pointed out, "No matter how much I wanted to make the movie a hit, I went too far, so there was a backlash and a lot of people were worried."
The film is being criticized for promoting a conspiracy theory that public power, led by her husband, former President Park Chung-hee, was behind the assassination of Ms. Yuk.
The prosecution was also depicted as being involved in concealing and manipulating the case along with the Central Intelligence Agency.
Attorney Kim raised his voice, saying, "At the time, the investigative authorities briefed us every day, and until the trial process, no newspaper raised any issues saying there were loopholes or suspicions in the investigation," and added, "I was surprised to hear that a strange story suddenly appeared."
Regarding his first impression of Moon Se-kwang, he remembered, "He was pure enough to be swayed by stories that would not easily brainwash ordinary people," and "He was a convinced criminal, so the investigation was not difficult because he did not hide the facts."
When Moon Se-kwang saw the crowd through the window of the convoy, he was at first very encouraged, saying, “The people of the southern half are supporting the ‘right cause,’” but he was said to have become greatly despaired when he found out later that public opinion was boiling with anger against him. Attorney Kim said that right before the execution, he was sobbing, saying, "I was deceived."
Attorney Kim pointed out that there was an "absurd failure in security" that allowed Moon Se-gwang, who was not a 'trained killer', to attempt to assassinate the president.
Attorney Kim also took responsibility for the lax security and sent the head of the information department at the Seoul Central Police Station to trial on charges of dereliction of duty.
Regarding the claim by some that the security office intentionally provided poor security, Attorney Kim drew a line by saying that this was not true.
He explained, "Even now, if you are not fluent in the language, do you avoid foreigners? We have to block people without a pass, but the security team and police did not know what to do because Moon Se-gwang spoke only Japanese, so they easily got through."
Regarding the claim that Ms. Yook was hit by a bodyguard's bullet, he dismissed it as "an incident in which a high school girl died after being accidentally shot by a bodyguard has been disguised as nonsense."
The investigation headquarters initially assumed that the late Jang Bong-hwa, who was in the audience, was hit by Moon Se-gwang's bullet, but a week later, through on-site inspection, they confirmed that she was hit by a bodyguard's accidental bullet.
Attorney Kim responded to the point that criticism of the film could infringe on 'freedom of expression' and said, "If it is a person whose identity cannot be identified, you can change it at will, but a real person who even has a bereaved family should not be distorted. Even if there is freedom of literary creation, the court's decision will ultimately have to be made."
Meanwhile, lawyer Kim Young-soo served as the first deputy director of the National Security Planning Department and a member of the National Assembly of the Democratic Liberal Party under the Roh Tae-woo administration, and as Senior Secretary to the Blue House for Civil Affairs and Minister of Culture and Sports under the Kim Young-sam administration.
