Video of fisherman's forced repatriation fans controversy

North Korea

Published: 18 Jul. 2022, 18:35 Updated: 18 Jul. 2022, 18:47

Video of fisherman's forced repatriation fans controversy

In a video released by the Unification Ministry on Monday, the first of the two North Korean fishermen to be repatriated via Panmunjom Nov. 7, 2019 can be seen kneeling on a metal grate close to the Military Demarcation Line before South Korean officials drag him into the North. [MINISTRY OF UNIFICATION]

Seoul's Unification Ministry released a video Monday showing the forced repatriation of two North Korean fishermen at the inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjom in 2019.

The four-minute video, which the Unification Ministry released in a text message to reporters in the afternoon, shows the arrival of the two men at the Inter-Korean House of Freedom on the South Korean side of Panmunjom, their wait inside a conference room while bound in rope, and one of the fishermen being forcibly dragged across the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) dividing the zone.

In the video, the first of the two to be repatriated halts on a metal drainage grate between two blue buildings, crouches down in a resisting way, and then crawls to the right before South Korean officials grab him by the arms and drag him towards the MDL. Shouting is heard in the video at this point.

The video ends just as the second of the two fishermen emerges from the House of Freedom to begin walking North.

The video’s disclosure follows the Unification Ministry’s release of photos documenting the same events, which sparked outrage from human rights groups and calls for the prosecution of high-ranking officials from the Moon Jae-in administration, which is accused of rushing through the repatriations.

According to the ministry, the National Assembly requested footage of the fishermen’s repatriation after a close examination of the photographs showed some officials recording the proceedings on their phones.

The video released by the ministry today was filmed on a mobile phone by a ministry official and was previously only shared with other officials involved in the repatriation.

While the video adds few details from the photographs released last week, its immediacy fanned controversy about the fishermen’s repatriation, which critics say was done to curry favor with Pyongyang — possibly breaking South Korean law.

Former Blue House National Security Office Chung Eui-yong issued a lengthy denial on Sunday that the Moon administration decided to expel the fishermen back to North at Pyongyang’s behest, saying it was the South that first confirmed the North’s willingness to take them back.

In his statement, Chung called the two men “once-in-a-generation murderers” undeserving of South Korean protection, claiming they “did not immediately come to the South after committing their crime, nor did they intend to defect to the South in the first place.”

The two North Korean fishermen crossed the inter-Korean maritime border in the East Sea and were taken into custody by the South Korean Navy on Nov. 2, 2019.

Accused of killing the captain and 15 fellow crew members aboard their fishing vessel, they were sent back five days later after a brief inter-agency investigation.

That investigation is also the topic of a formal criminal complaint filed by the National Intelligence Service (NIS) against its former chief Suh Hoon, who the agency accuses of unlawfully and prematurely terminating the probe.

According to a high-ranking government official who spoke on condition of anonymity to the JoongAng Ilbo on Sunday, the brief inter-agency investigation was merely a “formality” to mask a foregone decision to deport the fishermen.

“The fishermen weren’t even put through lie detectors” regarding the murders they were alleged to have committed, said the official.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday afternoon, presidential spokesman Choi Young-bum called on former Moon administration officials to cooperate with the investigation into the repatriations, highlighting what he called “distortions” in the case.

“There is a serious problem with labeling the North Korean fishermen as ‘once-in-a-generation murderers’ without a proper investigation,” Choi said.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]