Category: United Nations

I doubt the U.N. will do any investigation, but it is worth a try:

The family of a South Korean official who was shot dead by North Korean troops last month has asked the United Nations to look into the controversial incident.

Lee Rae-jin, the elder brother of the slain maritime official, delivered a written request for the probe to Tomas Ojea Quintana, a U.N. special rapporteur on the human rights situation in North Korea, at the U.N. Human Rights Office in Seoul Tuesday. Lawmakers of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) ― Reps. Tae Yong-ho and Ha Tae-keung ― accompanied Lee.

The request comes as the South and the North gave different accounts detailing why the official floated into the North’s waters and the circumstances of his killing. The family has also claimed the South Korean government was attempting to distort the truth by claiming the victim was trying to defect to the North, saying there was no reason for him to defect and leave his family, including his young children. (…….)

Along with the letter of request for the U.N. probe, the opposition lawmakers and the brother also revealed a letter written by the victim’s son to President Moon Jae-in.

The 18-year-old son, who is living with his mother and an eight-year-old sister, said his father had no reason to defect to the North and the government failed to protect one of its citizens. 

“I’d like to ask why my father had to go that far, what efforts the state was making to save my father and why it could not save him,” he wrote. “He was a public servant of the Republic of Korea and a citizen who should be protected. He suffered in the cold waters for a long time and was killed and burned … I want to ask who is responsible for this situation where we can’t even find his body, and what the state was doing when my father was killed brutally.” 

Korea Times

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