North Korean defectors in Vietnam: what took South Korea so long to intervene?

Sources say South Korea did not want to get involved in securing the release of a group of North Korean defectors from Vietnam last month

President Moon Jae-in’s administration has been accused of sidelining human rights to forge positive relations with Pyongyang

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South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s government has been accused of sidelining human rights in his quest to forge positive relations with North Korea. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 10:00am, 13 Jan 2020Updated: 10:47pm, 13 Jan 2020

The release of a group of North Korean defectors from detention in Vietnam last month ended weeks of anxious uncertainty among rights activists who feared their forced repatriation to the totalitarian state.

It also rekindled a long-standing criticism among some campaigners of the South Korean administration of Moon Jae-in, a former human rights lawyer, whose role in securing the release of the defectors remains unclear and in dispute.

Critics have seized on recent claims that Seoul hesitated to intervene in the case as the latest example of the Moon administration sidelining human rights in his quest to forge positive relations with Pyongyang.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un wave during a car parade in Pyongyang, North Korea, in September 2018. Photo: Reuters

“It thought that intervening would be an obstacle to talks with North Korea,” said Jung Gwang-Il, a North Korean prison camp survivor who runs the non-profit organisation No Chain.

One source with knowledge of the case told the Post that two activists in South Korea, including a broker directly involved in the rescue, had confirmed to him that Seoul did not want to get involved.

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