Inhumane Repatriation
LFNKR strongly protest the forced repatriation of two North Korean fishermen requesting asylum
The Unification Ministry of South Korea has issued a press release stating that on November 7, the government handed over two North Korean fishermen to North Korean officials at the border village of Panmunjeon in the demilitarized zone.
The 22- and 23-year-old youths who were deported had, according to allegations, murdered 16 of their colleagues on a 17-meter wooden squid-fishing boat.
We at LFNKR have conducted joint field surveys of North Korean wooden ships that are often found adrift in the Sea of Japan, and we know that this type of small ship has no passage from the bow to the stern under the deck. It would be impossible for two new fishermen to kill any of their 16 colleagues without being noticed by the others.
The truth of the incident has not yet been clarified, but the two young fishermen ran away after discovering that accomplices had been arrested at Kimchaek Port. Reportedly, the two fishermen had headed to the east coast of South Korea for two days and three nights, moving southward. They received two warning shots by the South Korean Navy before to their capture.
According to the commissioner of the Unification Ministry, it sounded like the two had expressed their wish to return to the North while being interrogated by the South Korean authorities. However, one official at the Unification Ministry told a Chosun Ilbo reporter that they had expressed the intention to defect to South Korea when they were arrested. The official stated that the remarks of the two fishermen that, “We want to return to our homeland (North Korea) even if it may kill us,” were made when returning to Kimchaek Port after the incident. The official said that they did not mention their wish to return to their homeland during the joint interrogation by the government.
During the investigation, the men wrote that they wished to defect, making it clear in their written statements that they wanted to defect. The South Korean government obviously decided to force repatriation even though they fully understood the intentions of the North Korean fishermen.
The deportation action taken by the South Korean government, ignoring the men’s clearly stated intention to defect, is a clear violation of human rights and also a violation of the UN Convention against Torture. Furthermore, this is inexcusable anti-humanitarian behavior. The men were forcibly sent back, despite the government’s full knowledge that they face dire punishment, including the probability of the death penalty. All of these facts were deliberately hidden from the public.
According to Article 3 of the South Korean Constitution, all defectors from North Korea are also citizens of the Republic of Korea. The act of forcibly returning a fisherman who has entered the sovereignty of the Republic of Korea to the North is clearly a violation of the Constitution, showing the abandonment of the sovereignty for protecting all nationals. The people of a nation headed by such shameless leaders are deeply unfortunate.
Imagining the two deported young men being heartlessly executed strikes us speechless. We urge the United Nations to immediately call on the North Korean government to halt the execution and to cease all inhumane treatment.
November 14th, 2019
Life Funds for North Korean Refugees (LFNKR)
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