South Korean lawmakers, activists press North Korea on fate of two fishermen deported by Seoul in 2019

South Korean lawmakers and activists are pressing North Korea for answers as to what happened to the two fishermen that were deported by Seoul back in 2019. This follows previous reports suggesting the two fishermen were executed upon returning to North Korea.

Some activists, defectors, and lawmakers in South Korea have pushed to determine whether the two fishermen are still alive after they were deported by authorities under South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s administration. The Moon administration deported the fishermen after authorities ruled that the men were “dangerous criminals” that killed 16 of their colleagues at the time.

Unconfirmed reports that followed appeared to suggest that the two men were executed upon being forced to return to North Korea. A United Nations investigator said that the deportation was a violation of human rights principles.

Moon’s successor, President Yoon Suk-yeol, has sought to reinvestigate the case and accused the Moon administration of trying to curry favor with North Korea in the midst of denuclearization efforts. Senior former officials are also being investigated for the incident, while the Democratic Party of Korea has criticized the probe as politically motivated.

Conservative Party member and former member of the parliamentary intelligence committee Ha Tae-keung, shared on social media the identities of the two men: Woo Beom-Sun and Kim Hyun-Wook. Both men were shown in photos released by the Yoon administration, being forcibly dragged across the border.

Ha’s office said the identities were being released in the hopes that the defector community may provide some information while pressuring North Korea to reveal what happened to the two men.

An official from the Unification Ministry, which oversees relations between the two Koreas, said there was no information to provide surrounding the fates of Woo and Kim.

“Whether they are alive is still not confirmed three years after their forced repatriation to the North,” said Ha, along with three other lawmakers in a joint statement.

News1 reported Thursday that Yoon would be meeting with US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in New York for bilateral talks. The talks will be taking place on the sidelines of the ongoing United Nations General Assembly that began this week.