Irae-jin "Moon Administration Did Not Request Rescue or Repatriation... Accused of Defecting to North Korea After Death" [Interview]

"Why Wasn't Repatriation Requested After Hearing Northward Defection Intelligence?"
Life Jackets and Floating Objects Not Recognized as Evidence of Defection Northward

"Isn't it that they did not request rescue? They should have requested rescue first and then demanded repatriation if he crossed over to North Korea. This is something the state should do, the state's duty was not fulfilled."

Lee Rae-jin, the bereaved family member of the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries official who was killed, said that when his younger brother, the late Lee Dae-jin, fell into the sea, "It seems the government did not send out an international distress signal to try to save my brother."

In a recent meeting with a reporter, Lee Rae-jin said, "If they had intelligence that he defected to the North, they should have requested repatriation saying, 'He is our official but a defector, so please send him back as we will punish him.' They should have said, 'He needs to be investigated in South Korea, so why did you kill him?' Instead, after he died, they just labeled it as defection," raising his voice.

Lee Rae-jin, the older brother of the fisheries official killed by North Korean forces, is being interviewed by the press on the 28th at the Seoul Global Center in Jongno-gu, Seoul, before meeting with Thomas Ojea Quintana, the UN Special Rapporteur on North Korean Human Rights. Photo by Moon Ho-nam munonam@

Lee Rae-jin refuted point by point the interim investigation results by the Korea Coast Guard that concluded voluntary defection. On September 29, 2020, Yoon Sung-hyun, then head of the Coast Guard's Investigation Information Bureau (now head of the South Sea Maritime Police Agency), presented as evidence for Lee Dae-jin's defection that he was wearing a life jacket while clinging to floating debris, that North Korea knew the missing person's name, age, and hometown, that there were circumstances indicating his intention to defect, and the sea current drift prediction results at the time. However, Lee Rae-jin claimed all of these were nonsense. He also revealed that some members of the ruling Democratic Party at the time personally approached him to persuade him to acknowledge his brother's voluntary defection.

"Swimming while wearing a life jacket and holding onto floating debris? That's impossible. Floating debris has buoyancy but no navigability. So it can float but cannot move forward. Saying he defected relying on that is nonsense. Also, since the life jacket floats on water, they say he wore it to defect, but the fishing net called 'dachjamang' is densely woven, and if the life jacket gets caught in that net at night, you die. Because the current is strong, once caught, the life jacket can come off or the person gets trapped inside the net."

He also argued that the Coast Guard's investigation results that North Korea knew his brother's personal information and that his brother expressed an intention to defect cannot be grounds for defection. Lee Rae-jin said, "He was in the sea for 30 hours; unconscious, wouldn't he have answered 'yes' if asked 'Who are you?'" He added, "In the end, my brother probably thought, 'My brother will request repatriation, so I will come back to South Korea. With my brother's ability, it's definitely possible.'"

He also said the sea current drift prediction results cannot be trusted. At the time, the Coast Guard announced, "It was confirmed that drifting to the actual discovery location of Lee Dae-jin without artificial effort has its limits." Lee Rae-jin countered, "The current prediction system the Coast Guard mentioned felt somewhat manipulated. Because when the search was conducted, most current prediction systems and the Coast Guard's predictions were different, but in the interim investigation announcement, they just made it all round and uniform." He added, "He would have had to swim faster than Park Tae-hwan or Jo Oh-ryun, which is an impossible situation."

Yoon Seong-hyun, Director of the Investigation Information Bureau of the Korea Coast Guard, is explaining the interim results of the investigation into the 'Soyeonpyeongdo Missing Public Official North Korean Shooting Incident' on the morning of September 29, 2020, at the Korea Coast Guard in Yeonsu-gu, Incheon. [Image source=Yonhap News]

Regarding his brother's death, he judged that Lee Dae-jin likely slipped, drifted in the sea, and eventually drowned, rather than being shot or burned. He said, "There was evidence that North Korea pulled my brother after he was found," and mentioned "specific circumstances related to cardiac arrest."

About the Moon Jae-in administration pushing the narrative of defection, he said, "I think they pinned it on my brother to avoid responsibility for the failure of maritime surveillance operations," and "I think they were also cautious about North Korean politics and did not want to provoke the situation with my brother's case." He added, "I think it was a means to cover up domestic issues that were noisy, like the Optimus scandal or former Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae's son's military service problem."

Lee Rae-jin emphasized the state's responsibility. He said, "This incident is about whether the state protected the lives and property of its citizens or not," and "How unhappy would future generations be if they live in such a state?"