SEOUL, Two North Korean fishermen, who were repatriated to the North through a controversial process in 2019, were deceived by some South Korean officials into believing that they were being sent to a place other than the communist state, an indictment of former government officials disclosed Thursday.
The North Koreans belatedly learned of the alleged deception and physically resisted being pulled across the Military Demarcation Line at the truce village of Panmunjom, according to the indictment of four ministerial-level figures of the previous Moon Jae-in government.
On Nov. 7, 2019, the Moon government sent back the fishermen captured near the eastern inter-Korean sea border, saying the North Koreans confessed to killing 16 fellow crew members.
Last month, Seoul prosecutors indicted the four, including former National Security Adviser and Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong and Suh Hoon, former chief of the National Intelligence Service (NIS), over their alleged involvement in the forced repatriation of the two North Koreans.
One day before the repatriation, Chung’s office decided to reassure the North Koreans by telling them that they would be headed to a place other than North Korea.
After taking off their blindfolds and seeing North Korean soldiers standing at Panmunjom, however, the North Koreans recognized that they were being repatriated to the North.
The shocked fishermen, refusing to be sent across the border, dropped to their knees and attempted self-harm, such as banging their heads against concrete corners.
Chung allegedly received a real-time verbal report on the repatriation from his office in Seoul.
Prosecutors accused the four of obstructing the fishermen from exercising their rights to be tried here in accordance with South Korean laws and procedures.
According to other parts of the indictment released to the National Assembly on the same day, meanwhile, Cheong Wa Dae, the presidential office, and the NIS began to mull over ways to repatriate the North Korean fishermen even before their capture.
On Nov. 1 of the same year, Suh allegedly instructed his subordinate officials to consider ways to send back the North Koreans soon after being informed that they were attempting to enter South Korean waters. Two days later, the North Koreans confessed to killing their fellow fishermen, and Suh and Chung decided on their repatriation.
Source: Yonhap News Agency