<![CDATA[North Korean defectors in Vietnam: what took South Korea so long to intervene?]>
The release of a group of North Korean defectors from detention in Vietnam last month ended weeks of anxious uncertainty among rights activists who feared their forced repatriation to the totalitarian state.
It also rekindled a long-standing criticism among some campaigners of the South Korean administration of Moon Jae-in, a former human rights lawyer, whose role in securing the release of the defectors remains unclear and in dispute.
Critics have seized on recent claims that Seoul hesitated to intervene in the case as the latest example of the Moon administration sidelining human rights in his quest to forge positive relations with Pyongyang.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un wave during a car parade in Pyongyang, North Korea, in September 2018. Photo: Reuters alt=South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un wave during a car parade in Pyongyang, North Korea, in September 2018. Photo: Reuters
"It thought that intervening would be an obstacle to talks with North Korea," said Jung Gwang-Il, a North Korean prison camp survivor who runs the non-profit organisation No Chain.
One source with knowledge of the case told the Post that two activists in South Korea, including a broker directly involved in the rescue, had confirmed to him that Seoul did not want to get involved.
"The foreign ministry issued some lame statement saying they're looking into the situation or working on the issue, but according to this broker, nothing was done on the ground in Vietnam by the South Korean officials to help the defectors," said the source, a Washington-based activist who spoke on condition of anonymity.
News reports have offered conflicting accounts of what happened, including which governments or private organisations worked behind the scenes to persuade Vietnamese authorities to release the North Korean escapees after several weeks in detention. The defectors, compromising either 11 or 13 people according to differing accounts, were picked up in Lang Son, a city near the border with China, in late November.
North Korean defectors, around 32,000 of whom have settled in the South since the division of the Korean peninsula after World War II, typically pass through China and one or more other countries en route to the South.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in delivers his New Year speech at the presidential Blue House in Seoul. Photo: AFP alt=South Korean President Moon Jae-in delivers his New Year speech at the presidential Blue House in Seoul. Photo: AFP
The Wall Street Journal reported on January 3 that US officials intervened to prevent the group being returned to the North, where they would face the threat of imprisonment and torture, after Seoul backed off from helping with the case. On January 4, Reuters reported that "multiple European organisations", including a non-government organisation, helped secure their release, citing a South Korea-based activist who said he was unaware of any US role.
The activist, Peter Jung, said South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs got "involved later" after initially being unresponsive to appeals for help. The current whereabouts of the defectors has not been officially confirmed.
The South's foreign ministry dismissed the WSJ report as "not factual" and said it had taken steps to prevent the group's repatriation, but refused to elaborate.
The presidential office, known as the Blue House, and Ministry of Unification did not respond to requests for comment.
The questions surrounding Seoul's role follow a series of controversies that critics say demonstrate Moon's willingness to sacrifice human rights concerns in pursuit of a policy of rapprochement with the North that has so far seen him hold three summits with the dictator Kim Jong-un.
The Geumgang Mountains in the demilitarised zone (DMZ) between North Korea and South Korea. Photo: Bloomberg alt=The Geumgang Mountains in the demilitarised zone (DMZ) between North Korea and South Korea. Photo: Bloomberg
In December, Tomas Quintana, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in North Korea, accused Seoul of sending the wrong message when it declined to co-sponsor a UN resolution on human rights abuses in the North.
A month earlier, the administration drew outrage from rights groups when it repatriated two North Korean fishermen accused of murdering 16 of their crewmates. Although Seoul usually grants residency and economic assistance to North Korean defectors, who are considered citizens under the South Korean constitution, officials argued the men did not qualify for asylum as they had committed "serious non-political crimes" and posed a threat to society.
In August, conservative politicians and activists held up the death of a destitute North Korean defector and her six-year-old son from apparent starvation as evidence of the government neglecting some of its most vulnerable citizens.
Defectors and other activists have also regularly accused the current administration of restricting them from carrying out activism such as sending balloons across the border carrying leaflets attacking the Kim regime.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un meets South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the truce village of Panmunjom inside the demilitarised zone separating the two Koreas in April 2018. Photo: Reuters alt=North Korean leader Kim Jong-un meets South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the truce village of Panmunjom inside the demilitarised zone separating the two Koreas in April 2018. Photo: Reuters
"The Moon administration is jeopardising the lives of North Koreans trying to escape as occurred in Vietnam most recently, and has put the lives of North Koreans resettled in South Korea at risk as well," said Suzanne Scholte, chair of the North Korea Freedom Foundation in Washington.
Lim Jae-Cheon, a North Korea studies professor at Korea University in Seoul, said the Moon administration was generally reluctant to broach human rights with the North out of concern it could disrupt inter-Korean relations.
"I understand that human rights issues are very sensitive to North Korea and that it is difficult to discuss them at the inter-Korean negotiating table," said Lim.
"However, I hope the current government will be more active in dealing with the defector issue."
This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
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