Chi-ho Chi, Deok-in-ho, Seong Si-ho, Shin Gwang-ho, 5th Gongjin-ho, Manbok-ho, Daeyang-ho, Hyeong-ho, Seungwoon-ho, Mujin-ho, Jeong Jin-ho, Gyeong In-ho, Shin Jin-ho, Shin Young-ho, Geumyeon-ho, Deoksu-ho, 3rd Geumseong-ho, 6-day signal, 6th Mijo-ho, Seunghae-ho, Haebu-ho, Myeongseong-ho 3, Daebok-ho, Changdong-ho, Samchang-ho, Geongjeon-ho, Pungseong-ho, Daebok-ho, Yeongchang-ho, Dongin-ho, Daedong-ho, Daeyang-ho… .
The names of ships are endless. According to statistics from the Ministry of Unification, more than 500 fishing boats went fishing on the east and west coasts between 1955 and 1992 and returned after being kidnapped by North Korean patrol boats. The number of fishermen abducted by North Korea is 3,729, of which 457 did not return after being detained, and the remaining 3,263 returned. What awaited the fishermen who were forcibly kidnapped by North Korea and returned to the south was not comfort and hospitality, but illegal arrest and detention, torture, and spy manipulation. Fishermen who were punished under the National Security Act, the Anti-Communism Act, and the Fisheries Act were later accused of being ‘anti-communist pollutants’ and even their families were victims of the guilt-by-association system. A discussion meeting was held to prepare permanent measures to recover from these damages.
The Truth and Reconciliation Committee for the Resolution of Past Affairs (Truth and Reconciliation Committee), Kim Kyo-heung, Chairman of the National Assembly’s Public Administration and Security Committee, and the Promotion Committee for the Special Act on Compensation for Violations of Human Rights Violations of Abducted Fishermen Returned to North Korea held a meeting at the International Conference Hall on the 20th floor of the Seoul Press Center on the morning of the 11th titled ‘Human Rights Violations Case of Returned Fishermen Abducted to North Korea.’ He held a public-private-government debate and called for the enactment of a special law.
Kim A-ram, a professor of history at Hallym University, said, “Decades of surveillance, surveillance, and the guilt-by-association system have completely changed the lives of the fishermen who returned to North Korea,” adding, “The pain and violence were passed on to the wives and children due to the frequent drinking and violence caused by the aftereffects of torture. “These various facts of damage must be revealed,” he said. Professor Kim said, “In response to the victims’ movement to uncover the truth and restore their honor, the state must apologize for its mistakes and respond with practical and quick compensation and compensation, and the practical and legal measure that can make this concrete is the enactment of a special law.”
Eom Gyeong-seon, a member of the steering committee of the Citizens’ Group to Investigate the Truth for Victims of Returned North Korean Fishermen Abducted on the East Coast, defined that “oppression of the human rights of kidnapped fishermen returned to North Korea is a crime of state violence.” He, who has been recording the damage suffered by fishermen abducted by North Korea on the East Coast since the early 2000s, said, “I was surprised to learn that they were subjected to unimaginable torture that could only have been possible in the feudal era, such as being twisted with a block of wood between their knees and being water-tortured with red pepper powder.” “Even after his death, the police came to him and asked him to prove that he was dead, so they opened the coffin and took pictures,” he said. He said, “There are fishermen who were urged to commit espionage, and I also saw children who failed the civil service exam because their father was a fisherman who returned to North Korea in the early 2000s.”
Attorney Choi Jeong-gyu, who explained the special bill, argued that “not only illegal detention and surveillance, but also those abducted and detained by North Korea should receive compensation and compensation.” “The state had a responsibility to protect fishermen from being kidnapped by North Korea. “Even if we cannot prove intentional negligence, this part should be included in the scope of compensation,” he said.
The investigation and truth-finding into the human 바카라사이트rights violation case of the abducted fishermen who returned to North Korea has been conducted since 2006, and 17 people received a decision to investigate the truth at the first Truth and Reconciliation Committee. In March 2009, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission conducted a basic factual investigation targeting 1,028 fishermen who were abducted by North Korea, but as the first period of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission expired in December 2010, it was abandoned without issuing a report or taking follow-up action.
With the launch of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in December 2020, it was decided to conduct an ex officio investigation into the cases of 982 people and 109 fishermen abducted by North Korea in February 2022, along with 241 requested cases. As a result, it was investigated twice in February and May of this year. A decision was made to investigate the truth for a total of 220 ships and 310 people.
The prosecution is also conducting an ex officio retrial of fishermen who were abducted and returned to North Korea after being criminally punished. After the Sokcho Prosecutor’s Office retried 11 cases in 2022, the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office has begun ex officio retrials of 100 cases in 2023. 36 people were found not guilty upon request for retrial under the authority of the prosecution, and 114 people were found not guilty during the court retrial.
Professor Kim A-ram said, “A special law must be enacted in order to establish a system for recovering damages at various levels, such as the central government or local governments, without victims having to file individual compensation lawsuits after being found not guilty in a retrial.” Eom Kyeong-seon, a member of the steering committee, said, “Not only the 1,300 people who received criminal punishment, but all 3,263 fishermen who were harmed by their return to North Korea should be eligible for compensation and compensation as victims.”
Kim Kyo-heung, chairman of the Public Administration and Security Committee, said in his greeting before the start of the discussion that day, “In order to ensure a stable investigation period and fulfill the earnest wishes of victims and bereaved families waiting for the truth to be revealed, the Truth and Reconciliation Committee must quickly extend the investigation period by one year. “We will actively pursue an extension of the period at the level of the National Assembly’s Public Administration and Security Committee,” he said.
