PPP accuses Moon gov't of making up fishermen murders story

North Korea

Published: 20 Jul. 2022, 18:17 Updated: 21 Jul. 2022, 11:44

PPP accuses Moon gov't of making up fishermen murders story

Han Ki-ho, chief of the People Power Party's task force on the Moon administration's handling of past incidents involving North Korea, speaks at the group's meeting at the National Assembly in Yeouido, southern Seoul on Wednesday. [YONHAP]

The People Power Party (PPP) on Wednesday accused former President Moon Jae-in's administration of knowing that the two North Korean fishermen repatriated in 2019 did not murder 16 crew members before fleeing to the South.

Speaking at a meeting of the PPP’s task force on the previous government’s handling of incidents involving North Korea, task force chief and lawmaker Han Ki-ho cited testimony from a North Korean defector with sources in the fishermen’s hometown of Kimchaek to question the Moon administration’s claims that the fishermen were murderers.

According to Han, the 16 people the fishermen are alleged to have murdered were actually five families from Kimchaek who hired the pair as brokers to bring them to South Korea.

“They were planning to defect in the [two fishermen’s] squid boat, which was anchored at sea, but the man who was supposed to guide them to the boat from land was arrested by North Korean public security when he went ashore, leaving the two fishermen on board with no choice but to escape to the South before they, too, were arrested,” Han said.

The fishermen were caught by the South Korean Navy after crossing the inter-Korean maritime boundary in the East Sea on Nov. 2, 2019. They underwent a brief inter-agency investigation before the South repatriated them via the truce village of Panmunjom on Nov. 7.

Officials involved in their repatriation, such as former Blue House National Security Office chief Chung Eui-yong, have maintained that the pair were “vicious criminals” who escaped to evade justice for murdering 16 fellow crew members.

The PPP lawmaker accused the Moon administration of knowing that the North’s accusations of murder against the fishermen were false but accepting it regardless.

“The alleged murder of 16 crew members was a lie made up by the North to get the two fishermen back, and the Moon administration would have known this through an inter-agency investigation of the pair,” Han said.

He added that the families in Kimchaek who planned to defect had vanished and that the two repatriated fishermen had likely been executed by firing squad, based on testimony from Kimchaek residents who later defected.

The PPP’s fresh allegations about the Moon administration’s treatment of the two fishermen coincided with claims by government officials that Seoul violated the terms of the Korean War armistice to repatriate the fishermen via the inter-Korean village of Panmunjom.

According to an official who spoke to the JoongAng Ilbo on condition of anonymity, the Moon administration ordered the South Korean military to open multiple checkpoints in the Joint Security Area (JSA) over the objections of the United Nations Command (UNC) to repatriate two fishermen.

“There are three checkpoints under UNC control between the Unification Bridge and the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) according to the Korean War armistice, and the command’s approval is necessary to pass through this area,” the official explained.

According to the official, the UNC “rejected the Moon administration’s request for cooperation in repatriating the fishermen by opening the checkpoints and requested an explanation, to which the Moon administration responded by ordering the Defense Ministry to open the checkpoints anyways.”

He added, “The Defense Ministry bypassed the Joint Chiefs of Staff, which has direct authority over the armed forces, and ordered the local commanding officer stationed at Panmunjom to open the checkpoints.”

The official added that the Moon administration disregarded the UNC’s request to refrain from blindfolding and binding the fishermen in rope as they awaited deportation inside the Freedom House on the South Korean side of Panmunjom.

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