Wife of North Korea-Shooting Official: "Government Frames as Defection to Cover Up Mistakes"

Photo by Channel A News YouTube capture

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Young-eun] On the 15th, A, the ex-wife of Mr. Lee, a fisheries guidance officer affiliated with the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries who went missing near Soyeonpyeongdo in September and was shot by North Korean soldiers, claimed that "the government framed him as having defected to the North to cover up its failure to even attempt to save a citizen's life."

In an interview with Channel A on the same day, Ms. A said, "(The government) should not make baseless distorted claims. They could not even confirm if the person who was shot was my husband, and there is no audio evidence of him expressing an intention to defect to the North. Who could believe that?"

Ms. A, who spoke out for the first time since the incident, said, "Until now, I hesitated to appear in the media because I wanted to protect the children, but I thought revealing the truth for the sake of the children is also something I must do."

Regarding the possibility of Mr. Lee defecting to the North, Ms. A said, "(Defection) is absolutely impossible," adding, "Who in the world would defect to the North without any preparation and based on a momentary decision?" She further claimed, "On September 18, four days before the shooting, my husband had a video call with our daughter and said, 'I will come home when I dock,' and two hours before he went missing, he talked about his future plans with our son and had ordinary daily conversations with me about our son's studies."

Ms. A also spoke about family matters such as their divorce and debts. She said, "I divorced because I did not want the children to see creditors coming to our home, but my relationship with my husband was not bad," adding, "We planned to reconcile once the complicated issues were resolved."

She continued, "(My husband) was undergoing personal rehabilitation, and if he repaid about 2.6 million won monthly for three years, he could have fully paid off the debt," adding, "He said we just had to endure for three years. He worked night shifts without rest on weekends when there were no dispatches and even wanted to work during the Chuseok holiday to recover quickly."

She also said, "There was plenty of time to rescue him, but the state did not fulfill its duty to protect its citizens," adding, "There is clearly a perpetrator, but no one admits fault, and to avoid responsibility, they created the crime of being a defector to the North."

She concluded by expressing her wish, saying, "The essence of this incident is that no measures were taken to save a citizen’s life, and for the sake of the children who must live on, I want a sincere apology and responsible punishment."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.