[INTERVIEW] 'Repatriation puts fear in eyes of all North Koreans,' rights expert says

In this June 4, 2020, file photo, Suzanne Scholte, left, the chairwoman of the North Korea Freedom Coalition and a Seoul Peace Prize winner, and other human rights activists prepare to send balloons carrying pro-democracy messages to North Korea from Paju, a city near the border with the North. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk

Scholte calls for reinvestigation into decision to send fishermen to 'their deaths'

By Jung Min-ho

South Korea's 2019 decision to repatriate two North Korean fishermen was a violation of its U.N. treaty obligations and investigators should find out who was behind sending them to a North Korean torture chamber, if not worse, according to a human rights expert.

Suzanne Scholte, the chairwoman of the North Korea Freedom Coalition and a Seoul Peace Prize winner, told The Korea Times that checking whether the fishermen are alive could be a first step toward uncovering the truth.

"Based on the testimonies of thousands of eyewitnesses, we know the fishermen (probably) faced execution ― the South Korean authorities knew that too ― because they were seeking resettlement in the South, a crime punishable by death in North Korea," she said. "We know that every North Korean forcefully repatriated to the DPRK (North Korea) will face certain torture, certain imprisonment, immediate death by execution or a slow death if sent to a political prison camp."

On Nov. 2, 2019, South Korea's Navy captured the men in their 20s in waters off the nation's east coast. After just three days of investigation, the government proposed sending them and their boat back to North Korea. Pyongyang accepted the offer the next day (Nov. 6). It was the first time the South had sent back North Korean defectors against their will.

Scholte accuses the previous Moon Jae-in government of violating the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, which obligates all countries that signed it not to send anyone back to a place where the person has a well-founded fear of persecution.

"It put fear in the eyes of all North Koreans ― both those who have resettled to the Republic of Korea (South Korea) and those who are risking their lives to get to South Korea. It sent a chilling warning to all of us who advocate for the human rights of the North Korean people," she said. "It was shocking to the international human rights community that the Republic of Korea that has had a history of safely resettling over 33,000 (defectors) would take this kind of action."

The decision left a chilling effect on North Koreans who ever thought about escaping and, as a result, helped the Pyongyang regime that was intensifying its crackdown on attempts to flee. According to the Ministry of Unification, the number of North Korean defectors who successfully enter the South dropped to 229 in 2020 from 1,047 in 2019 due to a mix of such factors and COVID-19 lockdowns. The number further slid to only 63 the following year.

In this Nov. 8, 2019, file photo, South Korea's Navy tows a boat used by two North Korean fishermen before handing it over to North Korean authorities. Courtesy of Unification Ministry

The National Security Office at the time claimed it was a necessary decision as the fishermen were "brutal criminals on the run," citing the investigation results that they conspired with a third man to kill the boat's "abusive" captain and 15 others at sea before escaping to South Korea's waters. Yet critics cast doubt on the accusations, given that the boat was too small for such a crime and that South Korean authorities disinfected the boat ― the most critical evidence ― before sending it back to North Korea.

Scholte believes the fishermen are innocent because they have never been convicted of the charges through a fair trial ― there were only the claims by the Moon administration.

"It appears that authorities knew what they were doing was wrong and made up a horrific but seemingly impossible story that the fishermen had killed their captain and shipmates. The story makes no sense and, even if they had done something of that nature, they had the right to claim their innocence and to have an investigation," she said. "It seems that there has been a cover-up. All the steps the Moon authorities made point to their guilt and the innocence of the fishermen: trying to repatriate them quickly and secretly without anyone knowing, covering up the crime scene by disinfecting the boat, and making up a horrific story that the fishermen were killers," said Scholte.

Scholte, who attended the June 24 Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission of the U.S. House of Representatives for rights issues of North Korean defectors, urged the new Yoon Suk-yeol administration to strengthen cooperation with China to save more lives as the country is the passage to freedom for most escapees. She reckons it is wrong to assume that Beijing would never cooperate with the South because it is a key ally of the North.

"China historically, when it has not been happy with North Korea's missile tests and nuclear provocations, has allowed safe passage to North Koreans," Scholte. "And DPRK has recently been on full nuclear and missile test mode."