This article was originally published by Voice of America and translated by OKN Correspondent.
Republican Congressman Chris Smith, head of the US House of Representatives’ Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, said he was shocked and dismayed by the photos of the forced repatriation of North Korean fishermen. He also strongly criticized that South Korea’s Moon Jae-in administration itself engaged in the atrocities of the North Korean regime. Reporter Ji-ha Ham reports.
Rep. Chris Smith heavily criticized South Korea’s past administration under President Moon, citing recently-released photos of North Korean defectors who were forcibly repatriated.
In his statement released on the 12th, Rep. Smith said that “the photos of fishermen who were seeking asylum being physically forced to return to communist North Korea against their will and without due process of law are painful to view.”
“These pictures clearly show the two fishermen being forced to cross the Military Demarcation Line at the truce village of Panmunjom and their resistance to being handed over to a brutal regime,” he pointed out.
He also added, “As I said at the hearing I chaired on June 24th, I was shocked and dismayed by what happened, and I believe a thorough investigation is still needed to determine who issued the order and why.”
“The justification the previous Moon Jae-in government gave at the time—that the fishermen were murderers—sounded very pretextual, and insufficient time was given to investigate the allegations. Regardless of wrongdoing, these escapees should not have been refouled to North Korea against their will, and the government should have respected due process,” Rep. Smith criticized.
Rep. Smith also pointed out, “this tragic episode also underscores the barbarity of North Korea’s communist regime and the callous complicity of the previous Moon Administration.”
“North Korea should disclose what happened to these two fishermen and whether they are still alive. I fear the worst, however,” he stated.
Rep. Smith, who heads the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, a bipartisan caucus in the US House of Representatives, criticized the Moon Jae-in administration’s forced repatriation of North Korean fishermen during a video hearing held on “South Korea’s Refugee Policy in the Yoon Administration” on the 24th of last month.
At the hearing, Rep. Smith said, “We know they will be maltreated with absolute malice by Kim Jong Un. I think there needs to be a very serious investigation of how that could happen because that is antithetical to everything about human rights.”
“I could not believe how former President Moon Jae-in, known as a human rights lawyer, and his administration sent the North Korean fishermen back to such a terrible fate,” he criticized.
At a hearing on South Korea’s passing of the “anti-leaflet bill” held in April last year, Rep. Smith denounced, “what I really think is extremely alarming is a retreat by the South Korean government from its long-standing commitment to human rights vis-à-vis North Korea and China.”
