Yoo Byung-ho, an Audit Committee member, appeared at the police station to be questioned on accusations of leaking military secrets during the investigation into the West Sea shooting incident. The investigation is led by the Seoul Metropolitan Police’s anti-corruption unit, which began questioning him as a suspect. Yoo maintains that the announcement of the audit findings related to the West Sea incident was justified and emphasizes that there were no state secrets in the disclosures, promising to testify regarding the alleged illegalities during the police investigation.

The issue arises from a report issued by the Audit Committee regarding the West Sea incident, in which a South Korean fisheries official was shot dead by North Korean forces in September 2020. The released materials suggest that the previous Moon Jae-in administration attempted to conceal the circumstances surrounding the incident by framing the victim’s actions as voluntary defection. The Audit Committee had initially deemed parts of this report to contain military secrets, but Yoo, along with other officials, allegedly pushed for its public dissemination, leading to the current investigations on charges of leaking classified information.

Yoo is also facing additional accusations of abuse of power related to his actions against dissenting staff members within the committee. The gravity of these allegations highlights significant tensions within South Korea's government oversight bodies, especially during a politically sensitive time following the shooting incident, which has ramifications for national security and inter-Korean relations.