North’s Engineer Lee Allowed to Return to North

Engineer Lee Kyung-sung (32) returned to North Korea at around 4 p.m. on August 21, 2002, via Panmoonjum. Lee came to South along with the family of Soon Chong-sik who fled North through the Yellow Sea.

The government announced that it determined that it would be humane to allow the Red Cross to turn Lee back to North, considering the conclusion made by the investigation team. The team concluded that Lee had no intention to defect North from the beginning, and Lee insisted on returning to North where his family members are.

Prior to this announcement, Chang Jae-un, the chairman of the central committee of North’s Red Cross sent a telephone notice to its southern counterpart. In that notice, he demanded, “Among the people who went to South, there is a person who came along against his will. It is Engineer Lee Kyung-sung. Your organization should return him immediately and unconditionally to North where his family members live, as demanded by him. It is right in terms of humanity.” But the North did not request for the return of the wooden ship (20 ton level) in which the Soon family came to South.

In the meanwhile, the investigation team consisting of various authorities confirmed, “It is confirmed that Lee, who was on duty at the time of departure, did not intend to join the fleeing. He was detained by the family of the Captain Soon Yong-bum (45).”

Dong-Ki Sung esprit@donga.com