[속보]Prosecutors summon Chung Eui-yong, former head of the Blue House National Security Office, for ‘forced repatriation’

Prosecutors investigating the forced repatriation of North Korean fishermen during the Moon Jae-in administration summoned Chung Eui-yong, former head of the Blue House National Security Office, who was in charge of security policy at the time.

On the morning of the 31st, the 3rd Public Investigation Division (Chief Prosecutor Lee Jun-beom) of the Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office summoned Chief Jeong as the accused and is investigating.

Prosecutors are questioning Jeong, who is in charge of security lines such as the National Intelligence Service, the Ministry of National Defense, and the Ministry of Unification, about how the North Korean fishermen were repatriated to North Korea and whether the law was violated.

Jeong was accused by a North Korean human rights group in July of last year for overseeing the process of forcible repatriation of two North Korean fishermen suspected of killing 16 fellow sailors in November 2019, even though they expressed their intention to defect.

On November 2, 2019, these North Korean fishermen were captured by the military while going south on a fishing boat in the sea near the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the East Sea. At the time, the government repatriated them to North Korea five days after they were captured, saying that those who committed serious non-political crimes, such as murder, were not subject to protection.

Prosecutors previously questioned former NIS director Suh Hoon, former Blue House chief of staff Noh Young-min, and former Unification Minister Kim Yeon-cheol in succession in relation to this case.