Prosecutors: "Moon Administration Considered Repatriation Before Detaining North Korean Fishermen... Seo Hoon Ignored Opposition from Staff"

During the Moon Jae-in administration, it was investigated that the Blue House and the National Intelligence Service (NIS) considered repatriating the North Korean fishermen forcibly before seizing the fishing vessel in 2019. At the time, there were voices of concern within the NIS, but former NIS Director Suh Hoon ignored them and pushed ahead, according to the prosecution's indictment.

According to the indictment of the 'Forced Repatriation of North Korean Fishermen Case,' obtained through the National Assembly on the 9th, the Blue House and the NIS set a policy for forced repatriation and issued guidelines to the working-level staff to urgently proceed with the repatriation even before seizing the vessel.

Former National Security Office Director Suh Hoon, who was the top official in the Moon Jae-in administration's North Korea security line during the "West Sea Public Official Shooting Incident," is attending the warrant hearing at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

The National Security Office and the NIS discussed a plan to send the North Korean fishermen back to the North starting from November 1, 2019. At that time, the vessel was attempting to continue southward beyond the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the East Sea despite the South Korean Navy's eviction measures.

Then NIS Director Suh Hoon instructed Kim Jun-hwan, the NIS 3rd Deputy Director, to review whether it was legally possible to send them back to North Korea, saying, "They are heinous criminals who killed many fellow crew members and are trying to come south."

Two days later, when the North Korean fishermen confessed to murdering their fellow fishermen during a Central Joint Intelligence Investigation, former Director Suh and then National Security Office Director Chung Eui-yong decided to hold a meeting the next day, chaired by then Presidential Chief of Staff Noh Young-min, to decide on forced repatriation. After the meeting, it was decided to proceed with repatriation with approval from former Director Chung.

Based on this, the prosecution viewed that the hurried establishment of the forced repatriation policy without legal or legitimate grounds had political motives. They noted that the Moon Jae-in administration was seeking ways to improve inter-Korean relations after the Hanoi North Korea-U.S. summit collapsed and relations rapidly cooled.

The indictment detailed the process in which former Director Chung and former Director Suh pushed for repatriation against the fishermen’s intention to defect and the opinions of the working-level staff according to this policy.

On the afternoon of November 3, former Director Suh received a report from the NIS Counterintelligence Investigation Bureau chief that the fishermen had confessed to serious crimes and said, "They are heinous criminals; can't we just send them back?" The next early morning, he called former Deputy Director Kim Jun-hwan and said, "It seems the Blue House will make a conclusion on handling the North Korean fishermen. We need to send the NIS’s position. Do you think those who killed 16 people came here wanting to defect? They came to save themselves. We should submit a report with the opinion to repatriate them."

When former Deputy Director Kim asked, "Is it possible to persuade the Counterintelligence Investigation Bureau? The working-level departments opposed it twice," former Director Suh instructed, "Just do it. There may be other opinions at the NSC. We just submit our opinion."

At the meeting chaired by former Chief of Staff Noh on November 4, although the Blue House Legal Secretary expressed that there was no legal basis for repatriation, former Chief of Staff Noh tentatively concluded forced repatriation was possible, saying, "Considering the special relationship between the South and North, repatriation is possible." He also instructed the Legal Secretary to "quickly review additional legal grounds to justify the forced repatriation decision and report to Director Chung Eui-yong by the afternoon," according to the investigation.

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