Subscribe
E-Paper
.jpg/dims/resize/740/optimize) |
| Kwon Cheol-nam / Courtesy of The Hankyoreh |
By Kim Bo-eun
A North Korean man who defected to the South is requesting to return home.
The man identified as Kwon Cheol-nam, 44, spoke at a press conference organized by the Christian Pastors for Peaceful Action in front of the U.N. Human Rights Office in central Seoul, Thursday.
Kwon, who arrived in the South in November 2014, claimed he was persuaded to come here by a broker, who said the government would provide him a home and job.
In the North, Kwon lived with his wife and son and sold medicinal herbs. However, after coming to the South, he claimed he worked at a greenhouse, where he suffered discrimination and wasn't paid properly.
"If anyone wishes to return to one's home country, measures must be taken from a humanitarian perspective to enable it," Pastor Lee Jeok, who heads the civic group, told The Korea Times.
The pastor dismissed claims that defectors may become subject to punitive measures if they return.
The group submitted a statement to the U.N. Human Rights Office in Seoul, calling for defectors wishing to return to the North to be sent back.
According to a report by the local daily The Hankyoreh confirmed by Lee, Kwon was indicted under the National Security Act for entering South Korea under false pretenses and attempting to escape and received a one-year prison term with a two-year suspended sentence.
Kwon is not the first North Korean defector requesting to return to the North.
An association of 35 civic groups including the National Council of Churches in Korea's human rights center held a press conference in front of the Cheongun Hyoja-dong Community Center near Cheong Wa Dae, Wednesday, urging the Moon Jae-in administration to repatriate Kim Ryeon-hee and 12 female restaurant employees to the North. They claimed the defectors are being held here against their will.
Kim, 48, has been requesting to return to the North. But she faces detention as investigating authorities are questioning her on charges of praising the North Korean regime as well as infiltration and escape, according to another The Hankyoreh report.
Police are questioning Kim over uploading a song praising Pyongyang's late founding leader Kim Il-sung on Facebook and requesting the Vietnamese Embassy in Seoul to send her to the North last year, which are both considered violations of the National Security Act.
The association also demanded investigations into the defection of the 12 restaurant employees, citing South Korea's National Intelligence Service's involvement.
On April 8 last year the unification ministry announced a male manager and 12 female restaurant employees, who worked for a North Korean restaurant in China, had defected to the South.
The ministry said the employees had defected after encountering South Korean dramas, films and online content. However, controversy had erupted over the incident, called a "schemed defection" by the Park Geun-hye administration to earn votes for the conservative ruling party as it was announced six days ahead of the general elections.
