Seoul Prosecutors Won’t Appeal Fishermen Repatriation Rulings

South Korean prosecutors will not challenge at the Supreme Court the not-guilty findings for three former senior officials in the forced repatriation case involving two North Korean fishermen, the Seoul Metropolitan Prosecution Service said on Wednesday (Oct 28). The decision covers former national security chief Chung Eui-yong, former National Intelligence Service director Suh Hoon and former unification minister Kim Yeon-chul.

Prosecutors explained that they had reviewed how likely the top court was to accept an appeal. “We decided not to file one,” the prosecution service said, according to the Seoul Economic Daily.

Forced repatriation case sentences

On Oct 21, the appellate court sentenced Chung and Suh each to one year and six months in prison, suspended for three years. Kim received one year, suspended for two years.

According to the Seoul Economic Daily, the appeals court largely upheld the first-instance findings but overturned some acquittals on abuse-of-authority charges, convicting the three on those counts. In the first trial, all three had received a suspended imposition of sentence, under which the court withholds the sentence itself.

With prosecutors declining to appeal, the remaining not-guilty findings for the three men will not be reviewed by the Supreme Court at the prosecution’s request. The reports did not say whether the defendants themselves plan to appeal.

Appeal against Noh’s acquittal

Prosecutors will, however, appeal the acquittal of former presidential chief of staff Noh Young-min, who was indicted on the same charges.

The appeals court found there was not enough evidence that Noh conspired in the abuse of authority or played an essential role in the decision to send the fishermen back, SBS and the Seoul Economic Daily reported. Prosecutors are citing what they described as a misapplication of legal principles on co-principal liability.

The 2019 expulsion of two fishermen

The case dates back to November 2019, when the South Korean government forcibly sent two North Korean fishermen back to the North. The pair were suspected of killing 16 fellow crew members but had said they wanted to defect to the South, according to the Seoul Economic Daily.

Chung, Suh, Kim and Noh were tried on charges of abusing their authority in carrying out the repatriation. Noh’s case now goes to the Supreme Court; no date has been reported.

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