Ministry of Foreign Affairs: "UN Response from Moon Jae-in Government on Fishermen Repatriation Contains Inappropriate Content"

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo In-ho] The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the response letter sent by the past Moon Jae-in administration to the United Nations Human Rights Council's inquiry regarding the North Korean fishermen repatriated in November 2019 "contains insufficient or inappropriate content."

An official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on the 15th, "The response letter submitted by our government in February 2020 to the joint letter from the UN Human Rights Council was written as an extension of the facts and legal assessments presented in the Ministry of Unification's briefing conducted after the announcement of the expulsion of North Korean sailors."

The official added, "In light of universal international human rights standards, it is true that our response contains insufficient or inappropriate content," and stated, "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs regrets not being more actively involved in the process of drafting the response letter as the department in charge of foreign relations."

The UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in North Korea and the UN Human Rights Council Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances sent a joint letter to the South Korean government in January 2020, inquiring about whether any consideration was given to the human rights of the North Korean sailors at the time of their repatriation.

In its response letter in February of the same year, the South Korean government stated that although the sailors later expressed their intention to defect, they fled despite warning shots fired by the South Korean military authorities at the time of capture, and one attempted an extreme act, which was assessed as lacking sincerity.

They explained that the sailors committed serious non-political crimes, making it difficult to regard them as refugees, and that since they were suspects who brutally murdered multiple people, their repatriation did not violate the Convention Against Torture, which prohibits expulsion to countries where there is a risk of torture.

The new government’s foreign and security departments have issued statements of reflection with changed positions regarding the repatriation measures that occurred during the Moon administration.

Earlier, on the 11th, the Ministry of Unification also expressed the position that "the defecting fishermen are citizens of the Republic of Korea under the Constitution," indicating that the repatriation at that time was wrong.

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