SEOUL (Reuters) – A combination of coronavirus border closure and an unusual pressure campaign by a South Korean government willing to deal with North Korea could destroy networks that defectors have long used to start a new life, say activist groups.
FILE PHOTO: Former North Korean defectors who were soldiers when they lived in North Korea release a balloon containing one dollar banknotes, radios, CDs and leaflets containing the North Korean regime in the heading north near the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas, in Paju, north of Seoul January 15, 2014. REUTERS / Kim Hong-Ji / File Photo
The South Korean Ministry of Unification said last month that it would “inspect” 25 NGOs with defect-run, indicating that they are not required to submit documents, and check if 64 others follow conditions to remain registered.
The sweeping probe comes as South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s government seeks to restart dialogue and economic projects with Pyongyang, which is under strict international embargoes because of its nuclear weapons program.
The ministry has already withdrawn the licenses of two defector groups that sent anti-Pyongyang propaganda to the North in the North, following complaints from North Korea.
Only a handful of NGOs have been investigated since 1998, and just one other has been discovered earlier from its license. Without a license, the organizations would not be able to obtain tax exemptions and hold fundraisers, although donations are still allowed.
Many of the groups have been collaborating with Seoul for decades behind the scenes to bring defectors to the South through an informal network of brokers, charities and middlemen, called the North Korean “Underground Railroad”.
Hired and funded by the NGOs, the intermediaries act as guides and provide shelter for defectors during their long, dangerous journey across China to Southeast Asia.
DEFECTOR NUMBERS PLUMMET
This year, the number of defectors arriving in South Korea dropped to an all-time low on June 147, mainly because the North closed borders with concerns about coronavirus.
Moon’s administration had already sharply cut funding and now the researchers are scaring away donors, activists said.
Several NGOs told Reuters that defector networks could never recover, even if borders reopened.
“Even if the investigation ends in nothing, rescue networks would for the most part be disrupted, defective roads would disappear and the NGOs would then close,” said Lee Young-hwan, the founder of the Transitional Justice Working Group on Defectors.
Unification Ministry spokesman Yeo Sang-gi said the investigation did not address any defectors and was designed to ensure NGOs follow rules.
GOVERNMENT REMEMBER HELPFUL
Activists say Moon’s administration has been less helpful than previous governments in navigating the delicate diplomacy to ensure defectors are not caught and forcibly repatriated to the North.
When 13 defectors were arrested in Vietnam last year, US diplomats came to the rescue in place of South Korean authorities, said two sources familiar with the matter.
Ji Seong-ho, a defector-turn lawmaker who previously ran a rescue network, said he managed to get another group of refugees trapped in China to South Korea – despite little help from Seoul- amtners.
Ji was shocked more than six months later when officials said they were still fighting to liberate the group.
“I was speechless,” Ji said. “Involvement with the government may not always be successful, but how would they release the defectors without even knowing where they were? In fact, they already lived well here. ”
A Foreign Ministry official said the government remains fully committed to supporting defector, but some countries’ relations with North Korea could complicate their efforts without finding out about the two cases.
When South Korea repatriated two North Korean sailors last year, calling them dangerous criminals who had killed 16 colleagues, some defectors were afraid they could be sent back, said Lim Il, a novelist who defeated in 1997 .
A coalition of 21 Seoul-based NGOs sent a petition to the United Nations last month, requesting an evaluation of Moon’s policies. Human Rights Watch and others urged Seoul to stop what it called a “political crackdown.”
Imesh Pokharel, who oversees the UN Office of Seoul’s Seoul, said all restrictions on freedom of expression should be “proportionate and necessary”, and asked Seoul to work with NGOs to uphold the rights of North -Korean to promote.
Report by Hyonhee Shin; Edited by Josh Smith and Lincoln Feast.
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