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2021-02-23 10:20
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(외신보도 = 탈북자4명, 이인영 통일부장관 고소 관련 외신기사
탈북자4명, 이인영 통일부장관 고소 관련 외신보도
■ NK News
North Korean defectors sue South Korean unification minister for defamation
Four defectors filed a criminal defamation complaint against minister Lee In-young on Monday
Won-Gi Jung February 22, 2021
▲ Image: NK News | Photo: From the left, Park Sun-young, the chairperson of the South Korean human rights organization Mulmangcho, Lee Dong-hyun, Kim Tae-hee, Choi Seong-guk and Lee Eun-taek.
A group of North Korean defectors filed a criminal defamation complaint against South Korea’s minister of unification on Monday after he said that North Korean human rights abuses should be better verified.
Earlier this month, unification minister Lee In-young stated that “there’s something lacking about the process of examining and verifying” records on North Korean human rights issues. Lee also said that the relevant stakeholders should check whether these records “reflect reality or are just a one-sided story.”
Now, four North Korean defectors are accusing Lee of “defending the ministry that persecutes North Korean human rights activists” and “taking sides with the criminals violating human rights in North Korea,” according to the criminal complaint filed on Monday.
The defectors — Choi Seong-guk, Kim Tae-hee, Lee Eun-taek and Lee Dong-hyun — held a press conference and said that Lee’s words conflate all defectors to be liars.
“They may just be words. But for defectors, they come across as a disgrace, a wound and an obstacle,” Choi said.
At a briefing on Feb. 22, Ministry of Unification spokesperson Lee Jong-joo denied the accusations. “The unification minister did not make a statement with an intent to say that defectors’ testimonies are lies that cannot be trusted,” she said.
At least two of the North Korean defectors who filed a criminal complaint against Lee are also activists and vocal critics of South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s treatment of defectors. Lee Eun-taek once led a North Korean human rights group called Righteous People and has participated in protests organized by the nationalist, right-wing “Taegukki” group. Meanwhile, Lee Dong-hyun publicly fasted in protest of Seoul’s alleged treatment of North Korean defectors in 2019.
“[The minister] slashed the hearts of North Korean defectors trying to live honorably as citizens of South Korea,” Lee Dong-hyun said. “It’s like he cut our heart to pieces with a razor blade.”
The defectors’ criminal complaint must be accepted by Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office to proceed as a court case. So far, legal analyst Shin Hee-Seok of the Transitional Justice Working Group said it’s “highly possible” that the unification minister will not be formally charged with defamation.
“Defamation complaints are filed against a person who slandered someone in specific, and especially when he raised false claims,” Shin told NK News. “[The unification minister] did not specify which defector he is talking about, and he didn’t say they were lying — he said that verification is needed.”
Edited by Kelly Kasulis
■ Korea News Gazette
(기사전문) https://www.koreanewsgazette.com/defectors-to-sue-unification-minister-for-alleged-defamation/
Defectors to sue unification minister for alleged defamation
SEOUL– Four North Korean defectors plan to sue Unification Minister Lee In-young for defamation over his recent remarks casting doubt over what defectors say about the North’s human rights situation, a local activist group said Sunday.
Earlier this month, Lee said during a press conference with foreign media reporters that human rights-related testimonies of North Korean defectors “lack a process of checking and verifying” their validity.
Four defectors plan to file a lawsuit against Lee on Monday for alleged defamation, according to Dream Makers for North Korea. They claimed that Lee has deemed testimonials by North Korean defectors as “untrustworthy lies.”
“What has been revealed is just the tip of the iceberg of the horrible plight happening in North Korea. Speaking to the foreign press as if their testimonies are lies is an act threatening the defectors who fled (to the South) for freedom,” the group said in a statement released Sunday.
Source: Yonhap News Agency
■ Aju.News
North Korean defectors were angry at Lee In-young, “treating false testimony, accusing defamation”
February 20, 2021 16:07 by NewsDesk
Minister of Unification Lee In-young. News 1
North Korean defectors sue Lee In-young, Minister of Unification, for defamation on the 22nd. This is because Minister Lee recently made a remark to the effect that’the testimony of defectors is an unreliable lie.
The North Korean human rights organization Mulmangcho Armed Forces Repatriation Committee announced on the 21st that four North Korean defectors sued Lee for defamation through false facts. This is a response to Minister Lee’s remarks at a meeting with foreign journalists on the 3rd with the intention that the testimony related to human rights in North Korea needs to be verified.
At the time, Minister Lee replied, “There is still insufficient confirmation and verification process to confirm whether the records are real or recorded (the North Korean defectors’) unilateral intentions,” regarding the disclosure of North Korean human rights records.
They said in the complaint, “The testimony of the vast majority of North Korean defectors is an unforgivable defamation act and a defection in North Korea seeking freedom, even though it barely reveals only the tip of the iceberg if you consider the total tragedy that is taking place in North Korea. It was an act that threatens the residents.”
He also said, “It is an obvious illegal act, which is both abandonment of work and abuse of rights,” he said.
He appealed, “Lee’s remarks and recognition are treason against the Constitution of the Republic of Korea and a crime against North Korean defectors, so please investigate thoroughly and face severe punishment.”
They plan to file a complaint directly after a press conference in front of the main gate of the Seoul Central District Court at 2 pm on the 22nd.
Reporter Jang Joo-young jang.jooyoung@joongang.co.kr
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