South Korean Government invalidates aid worker’s passport
South Korean President, Moon Jae-in, has a reputation as a human rights lawyer. He seems, however, to be allowing repatriation of North Korean defectors fleeing from serious human rights violations in North Korea without giving them any protection or adequate consideration.
NGO activists and Christian missionaries who work to protect North Korean defectors who have fled to China are working in China without fear of being monitored, arrested, detained, and deported from China. However, the South Korean government has taken measures to revoke or to refuse renewal of the activists’ passports, claiming that they are undermining national credibility. As a result, the South Korean government is putting pressure on human rights activists, and is selling out to the Chinese government. We at LFNKR dare not fail to point out the non-humanitarian, inhumane acts of the South Korean government.
The following is our summary of an article in Chosun Ilbo on Feb. 1, 2022.
South Korean Government invalidates passport of businessman imprisoned in China for helping North Korean defectors, claiming “damage of national prestige.”
On Feb. 1, it was confirmed that the South Korean government invalidated the passport of a South Korean businessman, “Mr. A,” and restricted its re-issuance, saying that he “damaged national prestige and committed illegal smuggling acts.” Mr. A was arrested by Chinese security authorities for helping North Korean defectors in China and served time in prison.
It was alleged that Mr. A was not able to leave the country due to the government’s passport invalidation, and six North Korean defectors who had been waiting for Mr. A’s help in a third country had been arrested.
Mr. A’s lawyers said, “The act of helping North Korean defectors enter South Korea is not an act that damages the national prestige, but an act that meets the legal protection obligations of the state and must be encouraged and supported by the nation.” They are proceeding with a lawsuit against the government.
Mr. A has been helping North Korean defectors in Changbai County, Jilin Province, China since 2013. In October 2019, he was arrested during a security inspection while he was heading to Shenyang with four North Korean defectors in a car from Changbai County. He was sent to trial, sentenced to one year and two months in the Teabook Prison. After serving his sentence in the Changchun, Jilin Province prison, he was released and returned to South Korea in June 2021.
Mr. A, who has been engaged in helping North Korean defectors for many years and who has built many connections in China and third countries, is said to have received a request to rescue North Korean defectors even after returning to South Korea. He was in charge of sending six North Korean defectors from China to Laos last November. Mr. A planned to leave Laos, send an acquaintance’s car to Suzhou, Zhejiang Province, China, and move the North Korean defectors to Puer, Yunnan Province, an area bordering Laos. Mr. A only learned that his passport was no longer valid when he went to the airport to leave Laos on November 19th last year.
In August of last year, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had issued a notice of “passport issuance-reissuance restrictions and loss of validity”, but the notification was not properly delivered to him because Mr. A did not live at the mailing address on file, and he only discovered that the passport had been invalidated at the airport.
Regarding the reason for canceling Mr. A’s passport, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs claimed that Mr. A is considered “a person who has greatly damaged the national prestige by illegal acts in foreign countries, etc., and the fact was reported by diplomatic personnel abroad or related administrative agencies under “Passport Law Article 12, Paragraph 3, Item 2”
Mr. A claims that the six North Korean defectors who were staying in China were arrested and detained by Chinese security officials when they were unable to leave for Laos due to invalid documentation. He said, “The six departed in a taxi from Qingdao, Shandong Province, China to Suzhou, Zhejiang Province, and bought a bus ticket using another person’s ID card to go to Puer, Yunnan Province. They got on the bus, but all of them were arrested because they didn’t have ID cards during the police inspection process. “It would have been safe to move to the border area of Puer, Yunnan if I had been in Laos. But I could not handle things because of my invalidated passport,” he said.
According to Mr. A, the six North Korean defectors arrested were all women, most of whom had been trafficked to China and had escaped their enslavers. In addition, through the chat group WeChat, Mr. A revealed that there are others who need to leave the country, saying that about 136 North Korean defectors who want to come to South Korea are waiting for help abroad.
Mr. A, who was banned from leaving the country due to the loss of passport validity, requested legal advice from the North Korean Defectors Human Rights Subcommittee under the North Korean Human Rights Special Committee of the Korean Lawyers Association.
The Korean Bar Association has decided that the actions of Mr. A, who helped North Korean defectors enter the Republic of Korea, do not fall under the act of significantly damaging the status of the Republic of Korea. Mr. A’s Joint counsel includes four people from the legal firm Dae-a, Seo-myeon, Bareun.
On December 9, last year, the joint defense counsel filed a lawsuit in the Seoul Administrative Court requesting the cancellation of the disposition such as restrictions on the issuance of Mr. A’s passport, and on the 20th, they applied to suspend the execution of the disposition such as restrictions on the issuance of passports.
The lawyers said in the application, “If Mr. A’s passport remains ineffective, the lives and living environment of many people who desperately want to come to South Korea from China via Laos and Thailand are clearly at very serious risk. There is an urgent need to rescind the restrictions on Mr. A’s passport in order to prevent ‘irrecoverable damage.”
The lawyers also stipulated that “Article 4 of the North Korean Defectors Support Law requires diplomatic efforts for the purpose of protecting and supporting North Korean defectors staying abroad. Special protection for North Korean defectors, and explicit protection and support for North Korean defectors staying abroad is a national obligation.”
At the same time, they said that “The act of helping North Korean defectors enter South Korea safely is not an act that damages the national prestige, but an act that not only meets the legal protection obligations of the nation, but must be encouraged and supported by the state.” Also, they said “The act of Mr. A rescuing the North Korean defectors and moving them to another safe place is interpreted as a legitimate act” under international human rights law. “
However, the diplomatic department has made it clear that they have acted legally in suspending the passport. A group of diplomatic litigation agents said in a written answer issued to the Seoul District Court on December 31, last year, “Mr. A had injured the national position by a smuggling criminal act, and those who committed such act were notified. Since it stipulates that the issuance of passports be restricted for two years, it is legal to suspend the validity of passports. Mr. A’s claim concerning the invalidation of his passport endangering the North Korean defectors is considered not credible.
The fourth part of the Seoul Administrative Court ruled on the 13th to dismiss the related proceedings.
Lee Young-hyun, a lawyer for Mr. A’s joint defense counsel, said, “We will immediately file an appeal.”