Ex-security chiefs get suspended sentences on appeal over forced repatriation of North Korean defectors

Former National Security Adviser Chung Eui-yong and former National Intelligence Service Director Suh Hoon had their first-instance suspended sentences overturned on appeal Wednesday, with a Seoul High Court panel handing each a prison term with a stay of execution over their roles in the forced repatriation of two North Korean defectors in 2019 — men who had expressed a wish to defect despite being accused of killing 16 fellow fishermen.

The Seoul High Court's Criminal Division 15-3, presided over by Judges Seong Eon-ju, Won Ik-seon and Lee Hee-jun, sentenced Chung and Suh each to one year and six months in prison, suspended for three years, on charges of abuse of authority under the National Intelligence Service Act. Former Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul received one year in prison, suspended for two years. Former Presidential Chief of Staff Noh Young-min was acquitted.

The court said the defendants, as the national security adviser, NIS director and unification minister, bore a duty to apply relevant laws and protect human rights — positions at the highest levels of government with wide influence over national security, inter-Korean relations and the fundamental rights of citizens. Despite that, the court said, they failed to fulfill their responsibilities and reached a decision within two days to repatriate the North Koreans based solely on confessions to murder, overriding calls for careful review and without legal grounds for the deportation.

The court added that the defendants abandoned their constitutional duty to protect North Korean residents, inflicted psychological harm on lower-ranking civil servants mobilized to carry out unlawful orders and left those officials facing legal and moral liability. Yet they claimed the action was unavoidable and evaded responsibility, the court said. In its sentencing rationale, the court noted that Chung had no prior criminal record apart from a 20,000-won ($151) fine, and that the defendants had faced an unprecedented situation in which they failed to exercise sound judgment.

Noh was acquitted because the court found it difficult to conclude that he had successively or implicitly conspired in the abuse-of-authority offense or exercised essential control over the act, and determined that the charges against him had not been proven.

In November 2019, two North Korean fishermen who had expressed a wish to defect were forcibly sent back to North Korea after being identified as suspects in the killing of 16 fellow crew members. The government at the time said the men were not eligible for protection because they had committed serious non-political crimes, including murder, and expelled them.

Chung and the other defendants were indicted without detention in March 2023 on charges of abusing their authority during the repatriation process and obstructing the defectors' right to stand trial under domestic law and procedure.

In the first instance, a court ruled in February last year that the defendants were guilty of forcibly repatriating the North Koreans against their will, finding that they had obstructed the men's rights to physical freedom, freedom of residence and the right to trial under the law.

The first-instance court suspended sentencing for Chung and Suh at 10 months each, and for Noh and Kim at six months each. A suspended sentence under South Korean law means guilt is established but the pronouncement of punishment is deferred; if no further offense occurs within a set period, the case is treated as dismissed. Both prosecutors and defendants filed appeals.

Immediately after Wednesday's appellate ruling, lawyers for Chung, Suh and Kim announced their intention to appeal to the Supreme Court, saying that "pursuing criminal liability based on after-the-fact standards, while ignoring the unique circumstances of the divided peninsula, the urgency of the situation at the time, and the legal uncertainty in interpreting relevant statutes, could set a very dangerous precedent."