Hundreds of North Korean Defectors Prohibited from Departing, Under Special Supervision

It was confirmed that the government has prohibited the departure of hundreds of North Korean defectors in South Korea, who are highly probable of returning to North Korea and acting against South Korea, or who are espionage suspects.

A National Intelligence Service official communicated that lawmakers of the ruling and opposition parties of the National Assembly’s Intelligence Committee held an unofficial gathering on December 3 and said, “We are specially supervising North Korean defectors with suspicious attitudes, and we have ceased issuing passports to hundreds of them.”

At this gathering, lawmakers concentrated on detecting the circumstances of how Mr. Lee (28), who received espionage education, re-entered the country, and is currently under investigation by public prosecutors for violating the National Security Law, was issued a passport.

Also, the lawmakers said, “As Mr. Lee wasn’t under departure prohibition, doesn’t this mean that those under prohibition are even more suspicious than Mr. Lee?” and expressed their suspicion.

However, on December 3, Soongeui Comrade Association, an organization of North Korean defectors, claimed, “This past March, National Defense Committee Chairman Kim Jong Il instructed a secret agent to be planted among the North Korean defectors who have settled in South Korea.”

This association conveyed, “Chairman Kim instructed to ‘confront the enemy’s psychological war that those who have escaped to the south are living well’, at the party central committee meeting held in March.”

Myoung-Gun Lee gun43@donga.com taewon_ha@donga.com