Presidential office calls Moon admin’s repatriation of NK fishers “crime against humanity”

Posted on : 2022-07-14 17:30 KST Modified on : 2022-07-14 17:30 KST
Prosecutors carried out a search and seizure of the National Intelligence Service in relation to the probe
President Yoon Suk-yeol speaks at the opening ceremony of the Asian Leadership Conference 2022 held in downtown Seoul on July 13. (presidential office pool photo)
President Yoon Suk-yeol speaks at the opening ceremony of the Asian Leadership Conference 2022 held in downtown Seoul on July 13. (presidential office pool photo)

On Wednesday, the presidential office stressed the importance of thoroughly investigating an incident during predecessor Moon Jae-in’s administration involving the repatriation of North Korean fishers, which it described as a “crime against humanity.”

With President Yoon Suk-yeol effectively ordering prosecutors to conduct an intensive investigation into the case — following a National Intelligence Service (NIS) complaint against two former directors and the decision by the Ministry of Unification to disclose photographs from the time of the repatriation — the administration appears to be launching a full-scale probe of the Moon Jae-in administration over North Korea-related incidents.

“The image of one of the North Korean fishers’ desperate struggle not to be taken away is completely at odds with the Moon administration’s representation that they didn’t intend to defect to the South,” said Kang In-sun, Yoon’s spokesperson for the foreign press, in a briefing Wednesday.

“To restore universal values of liberty and human rights, we intend to thoroughly investigate the truth behind this incident,” she added.

“If they did forcibly repatriate [the fishers] to the North despite them declaring their intent to defect, that would be an inhumane act, a crime against humanity in violation of both international law and the Constitution. That is why an investigation is necessary,” she stressed.

A key official with the presidential office said, “The Yoon Suk-yeol administration protects the lives and safety of the people and emphasizes universal values of liberty and human rights.”

“This is not a case of ‘targeting’ or ‘retaliating’ against a previous administration,” they emphasized.

But the first and third public investigation divisions of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, which are investigating the fishers’ repatriation and the shooting of a South Korean government employee by North Korean soldiers in the West Sea, have been falling in line with the presidential office’s commitment to investigating the case by acquiring a search and seizure warrant to access information from the NIS.

When the two North Korean sailors crossed over into South Korean waters on the East Sea in November 2019, the Moon administration returned them to the North via Panmunjom five days after their capture. At the time, the administration said it was expelling them after concluding that their intent to defect was “not sincere,” explaining that they had fled the North after killing their captain and 15 other crew members to protest harsh conditions on their vessel.

The political opposition has been up in arms over the presidential office’s calls for an investigation.

“This was a case of a criminal extradition [to North Korea] of vicious criminals who had murdered 16 people before crossing over,” explained Woo Sang-ho, head of the Democratic Party’s interim leadership committee.

“Referring to it as an ‘inhumane act’ is disproportionate,” he argued.

Lawmakers on the Democratic Party’s task force for the West Sea shooting case, in which a civil servant was shot and killed by North Korea off the coast of the peninsula in 2020, also held a press conference the same day to criticize the People Power Party for its “ongoing efforts to hang the previous administration, holding our security hostage for the sake of political warfare.”

By Kim Mi-na, staff reporter; Um Ji-won, staff reporter; Son Hyun-soo, staff reporter

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