Ex-Officials Get Suspended Terms over 2019 Repatriation of 2 N. Koreans
[Domestic] : Former top officials from the Moon Jae-in administration received suspended prison terms Wednesday after an appeals court ruled on the 2019 repatriation of two North Koreans who’d intended to defect to South Korea. The Seoul High Court sentenced former national security adviser Chung Eui-yong and ... [more...]
On Wednesday, an appellate court handed down suspended prison terms for three former officials involved in the 2019 deportation of two North Korean fishermen. The Seoul High Court upheld guilty verdicts issued by a lower court against Chung Eui-yong, a former national security adviser; Suh Hoon, a former Director of the National Intelligence Service; and Kim Yeon-chul, a former Unification Minister.
The high court acquitted Noh Young-min, a former chief of staff to President Moon Jae-in, who had previously been convicted in connection with the case. All four individuals served in former President Moon Jae-in's administration when the deportations took place in November 2019. The fishermen were captured near the eastern maritime border and accused of murdering 16 crew members.
Their intent to defect to South Korea, a country that accepts North Korean defectors, sparked widespread outrage as the deportation occurred despite this. Initially, a lower court found all four former officials guilty but postponed their sentencing. The appellate court, however, issued the suspended prison terms.
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