4 officials under Moon get suspended prison terms in N. Korean fishermen deportation case

Four former high-ranking officials from the previous Moon Jae-in administration were given suspended prison sentences on Wednesday for their involvement in the forced repatriation of two North Korean fishermen in 2019.

In November 2019, the Moon government sent back two North Korean fishermen who were captured near the eastern inter-Korean sea border while sailing southward aboard a fishing boat.

The government cited the fishermen’s confession to killing 16 fellow crew members as the reason for denying them protection and repatriating them.

In 2023, four officials under the Moon administration were indicted on charges of forcing government agency personnel to deport the fishermen despite their wishes to defect to South Korea.

They are former national security adviser and Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong; Noh Young-min, former presidential chief of staff; Suh Hoon, former chief of the National Intelligence Service; and former Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul.

On Wednesday, the Seoul Central District Court sentenced Chung and Suh to 10 months in prison, while Noh and Kim received six-month prison terms on charges of abuse of power and others.

All sentences were suspended on the condition that they would be automatically nullified after two years unless the four receive finalized court rulings of license suspension or harsher penalties during the period.

The court found the four officials guilty of prioritizing speed over careful legal review in their decision to repatriate the fishermen.

However, while acknowledging their guilt, the court took into account the severity of the crimes allegedly committed by the two North Koreans in issuing the suspended sentences instead of immediate imprisonment.

The court defended its ruling as the “most reasonable” result that “acknowledges the illegality of the defendants’ behaviors while withholding actual penalties.”

The court also raised concerns about the timing of their indictments, noting that the four officials were indicted three years after the incident, following the change of administration in 2022.

“The case was initiated by the National Intelligence Service (NIS) itself, becoming the complainant after the leadership of both the prosecution and the NIS changed with the new administration,” the court said.