South Korea politics roiled by pair sent to North, likely killed

Current President Yoon Suk Yeol’s administration this week released photos of the blindfolded and bound fishermen getting dragged across the border. His office issued a statement saying their return to face charges of murdering their fellow crewman on a fishing boat was “a crime against humanity that violated both international law and the constitution.”

The rising tension between Yoon and Moon underscores the difficulties of former South Korean presidents, all of whom have either personally, or had relatives, face criminal investigations after leaving office.

The Moon administration has said the two fishermen were sent back after they confessed to murdering 16 on board the fishing boat and had no intention to defect. Critics contended at the time Moon’s government cut the probe into the matter short and sent the men back to keep in the good graces of North Korea as it was engaging in talks with former US President Donald Trump.

Moon has not commented on the investigation, and his Democratic Party said Yoon may be bringing attention to the incident from three years ago to boost support for his administration. Yoon’s approval rate fell to 37% in a Realmeter tracking poll this week, marking the first time since full democracy in 1987 that the number has fallen below 40% for a president two months after taking office.

South Korea’s spy agency last week said it filed a complaint with prosecutors against its two former chiefs under Moon, claiming one of them preemptively ended an inquiry of the fishermen’s case and the other deleted a report on a separate incident where a South Korean fisheries official was killed by North Korean troops near a nautical border.

The two have denied the accusations and one of them — Park Jie-won — called them politically motivated. Prosecutors have not commented, as is their policy regarding an investigation.

The repatriation faced criticism in South Korea, where the constitution defines those living in the North as its citizens and deserving of a trial in South Korea. Human rights groups said the two men were likely executed upon return to North Korea.

“By appearing before a South Korean court, at least these two men would have received a fair trial — rather than the bullet in the back of the head that they likely received back in North Korea,” Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, said in a statement this week.

A group of South Korean lawyers said Wednesday it would file a complaint against Moon for attempted murder charges in connection with the repatriation.

Yoon, a conservative, has pledged to take a tough line against North Korea and punish it for its provocations. Moon, a progressive, made rapprochement with Pyongyang a top priority only to see Kim Jong Un’s regime put a freeze on disarmament talks and increase the size and strength of its nuclear arsenal.