The head of a South Korean investigative panel has accused the previous government of falsely claiming that two North Korean defectors had killed 16 people before defecting to the South in order to have them swiftly returned to the North.
Han Ki-ho, the chairman of a task force of the ruling People Power Party set up to look into national security incidents under former President Moon Jae-in, told a meeting at the South Korean parliament on Wednesday that the two men had not killed the 16 people on the boat but had instead been orchestrating an attempted mass defection.
The incident dates back to November 2, 2019, when South Korean maritime patrol units intercepted a North Korean squid fishing boat off the east coast of the peninsula. Seoul subsequently claimed that the two men had killed the remaining 16 crew members and thrown their bodies overboard.
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Five days later, the two men were secretly handed over to North Korean troops on the border at Panmunjom, with video footage released last week showing the two men begging not to be returned to the North and throwing themselves to the floor.
There was criticism at the time of the administration of Mr Moon, a prominent human rights lawyer before he became president, but that has snowballed in recent days.
Activists have claimed that the two men were not given access to legal support and should have been tried in the South, while the only details of what the men allegedly said during questioning has come from the...
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