Statement of South Korea’s Deportation two North Korean Escapees

The British-North Korean Community is deeply concerned about the first deportation of two North Koreans by South Korea since the 1953 Korean War Armistice.

The South Korean government, on Thursday 7 November, deported two North Korean escapees to North Korea, a country that has been condemned by the United Nations as having committed systematic, widespread and grave violations of human rights and crimes against humanity.

This is the first time the South Korean government has sent North Koreans back against their will. In doing so, South Korea has undermined its national Constitution, which recognizes all North Koreans as citizens of South Korea, granting them the right to live in the South and be protected by its legal system.

“Since North Koreans are Korean nationals they are under the jurisdiction of South Korea, so the government is obliged to let them stand in our courts,” stressed Kim Jae-won, a member of South Korean Parliament and chairman of the National Assembly Budget Committee, to Prime Minister Lee Nak-Yeon.

There were no legal procedures for these two North Koreans deportation.

“There is no doubt that the two deportees have been returned to a place where they face no due process, harsh punishment, torture, and almost-certain execution,” says Greg Scarlatoiu, executive director of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea.

After their boat was seized by the South Korean navy on Saturday, November 2, the two fishermen reportedly requested resettlement in South Korea.

After an investigation which lasted for only three days, the government of South Korea sent the two back to North Korea, saying that its investigators had determined that the men had killed 16 of their crewmates prior to escaping.

Ministry of Unification spokesman Lee Sang-min stated that the two fishermen were “heinous criminals” who did not deserve recognition as refugees under applicable international law.

Nonetheless, there is no evidence or allegation of these fishermen were murderers. Even if they were murders, they could still be protected from refoulement to a country where they would be tortured or executed, since South Korea is a signatory country (9 January 1995) to the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

“The claim that the two escapees killed 16 crewmates, is bizarre,” says Scarlatoiu.

Moreover, the North Koreans were on South Korean soil and deserved the protection of South Korea’s legal system, whilst South Korean nationality law declares: “North Korean citizens are also recognised as South Korean nationals,” which can find more information about at: https://bit.ly/2qGG5xf.

South Korea does not recognise North Koreans as refugees, and never has. But under the South Korean constitution, North Korean citizens who flee to South Korea automatically become South Korean citizens.

There is no such legal agreement or any extradition treaty between Pyongyang and Seoul. Nor there is a precedent for the extradition of people to North Korea, as the jurisdiction has no rule of law.

This deportation of the two North Korean fishermen therefore raises major concerns for all the North Koreans (34,000) living in South Korea.

If this case supports a future extradition agreement between North and South Korea, many North Korean refugees in Seoul, who fled in search of freedom of expression, speech, faith, opportunity, dignity, security and food, will be forced to repatriate from North Korea’s request of criminals.

But North Korea regards all North Korean escapees are ‘human scum’ and ‘betrayers of a socialist nation’ - making all of them criminals.

The deportation of the two North Korean fishermen creates serious moral, ethical, and legal concerns that the international community, organisations and friends of Korea should call attention to.

The South Korean government must follow the international obligations of human rights norms and principles. “The result of a cursory investigation, this deportation is contrary to obligations assumed by South Korea under human rights instruments including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,” Scarlatoiu says.

International Solidarity

British-North Korean Community