Questions Remain About Repatriation of Two North Koreans that Allegedly Murdered 16 Fishermen
The case of the repatriation of two North Koreans that supposedly murdered 16 other fishermen before defecting to the South continues to cause controversy:
In the investigation that followed, the two North Koreans asked to defect to South Korea, but the government eventually chose to repatriate the two sailors.
They were handed off to the North’s authorities through the Koreas’ land border at Panmunjom on Thursday, while the boat they used was also given back to the North on Friday.
Given the extraordinary circumstances of the case – unprecedented in inter-Korean history – the decision to expel the sailors continues to be subject to heavy controversy over its legality.
Lawmakers of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party, who were the first to make the issue public before the government announced the expulsion decision, raised doubts as to just how three people were able to murder 16 others on a small boat, which measured only around 15 meters (49 feet) long and weighed 17 tons, and were able to evade North Korea’s own naval surveillance to escape to the South.
South Korea’s lack of a judicial procedure on the alleged crime also invited protests from civic groups, which cited that the sailors had the right to a trial given that the South Korean Constitution does not recognize North Korea and considers all its residents as citizens of South Korea.
To these questions, the Unification Ministry said South Korea’s regulations governing refugees from North Korea also explicitly forbids Seoul from giving shelter to North Koreans who have committed “serious non-political crimes” which include murder, terrorism or illicit drug trafficking.
Joong Ang Ilbo
You can read more at the link, but it seems to me that if these two legitimately admitted to murdering 16 people, are these two really refugees that citizens in the ROK would want to harbor? The question becomes did they legitimately admit to the murders or did the ROK government simply take the word of the North Korean government before handing them over?
How many would you kill in a desperate attempt to reach freedom?
Flyingsword, I understand your question nd sympathize with the idea; but “16 men on a dead man’s chest” keeps popping into my imagination.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Hlob75PqeSw
This was probably a new crate of fruit… I’m sure we could find out more from our more nautically-minded brethren (term used in the strictest gender-neutral manner since sistren sounds like cistern and probably isn’t even a word).
Also, why is taking nK word about anything? What evidence was presented, were the accused allowed to make a defense? Another commie moon created pile of disgust.
Human rights lawyer my ass. Commie Moon sent them back to slaughter. Judge, jury and Fatty does the executions.
“You can read more at the link, but it seems to me that if these two legitimately admitted to murdering 16 people, are these two really refugees that citizens in the ROK would want to harbor? The question becomes did they legitimately admit to the murders or did the ROK government simply take the word of the North Korean government before handing them over? ”
Thanks for proving you don’t care about facts when you ignore inconvenient details for the narrative about South Korea under democratic government.
SK considers them to be SK citizens one by one. Usually, police do not determine guilt or innocence, even with a supposed confession. Also, the story says they killed the 16 at 40-minute intervals, calling them from sleep, yet their fishing boat does not allow that to have happened. And it would have taken about 9 hours to do that. And they were squid fishermen, meaning they fished at night, not slept.
The whole thing is sick.