Female North Korean defector’s decomposed body found in Seoul home

Authorities believe nearly a year has passed since the woman died, given the fact that she was found wearing winter clothes

A government official expressed regret over the case and vowed to improve the system to check on defectors who may need extra attention

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A soldier stands guard at the demilitarised zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas, near Ganghwa. File photo: AFP

Published: 7:00am, 26 Oct 2022

A North Korean defector who was once hailed by the media as a successful resettlement case has been found dead in her home in Seoul. Authorities believe nearly a year has passed since she died, given how much her corpse had decomposed and the fact that she was found wearing winter clothes. She was 49.

According to police in Yangcheon district on Tuesday, her body was discovered on October 19 by an official of the Seoul Housing and Communities Corporations, the city-owned public rental house provider, which had tried to contact her about renewing her housing rental contract.

The official eventually opened the door of her flat, where he discovered the body. Police plan to carry out an autopsy on the body to determine the cause of her death. She had no family members in South Korea, they said.

According to the Ministry of Unification, she entered the South in 2002 after escaping North Korea. She then started working at the Korea Hana Foundation, a ministry-run organisation that supports North Koreans trying to resettle in the neighbouring country. As she was building up a good reputation among other defectors, she was reported as a successful resettlement case by some media outlets.

But her former colleagues said they lost contact with her after she had left the job in 2017.

Speaking to reporters, an official at the ministry expressed regret over the case and vowed to improve the system to check on those who may need extra attention.

According to rules, the ministry only monitors North Korean defectors who are not included on the welfare programme list of local governments, and she was not on the ministry’s watch list, the official said.