“The international community must condemn North Korea’s atrocities… The truth must be revealed and promises to prevent recurrence”
Ha Tae-kyung: “North Korea should lift non-military sanctions if it takes proactive measures related to human rights”
The bereaved family of the late Lee Dae-jun, an official of the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, who was killed by the North Korean military in the West Sea, visited the United States to find out the truth regarding the incident and appealed to the international community for help so that North Korea might be held accountable.
Mr. Lee’s older brother, Raejin, attended the 18th ‘International Parliamentarians Union for the Human Rights of North Korean Free Migrants’ (IPCNKR) General Assembly held in Washington DC on the 15th (local time) by the North Korean Human Rights Commission (HRNK), an American North Korean human rights group. reported on the case.
“So far, there has been no response from North Korea to a request for finding the truth and an on-site investigation,” Lee said.
He appealed for an opportunity to speak at the United Nations in order to provoke the international community’s attention, and then urged an international joint investigation team at the UN level to find out the truth and help North Korea obtain a promise to prevent a recurrence.
Lee Dae-jun was killed by North Korean forces in the West Sea in September 2020.
At the time, the Moon Jae-in government announced that Mr. Lee was killed while voluntarily defecting to North Korea.
However, following the inauguration of the Yun Seok-yeol government, the Ministry of National Defense and Coast Guard overturned the previous announcement, saying that North Korea had not been proven.
In the meantime, Lee Rae-jin has requested the government to find out the truth and disclose related information, saying there is no reason for her brother to defect to North Korea.
On the 16th, Lee held a press conference in front of the North Korean delegation to the United Nations in New York together with lawmaker Ha Tae-kyung, head of the Investigation Task Force (TF) of the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, which is the People’s Power, and requested that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un dispatch a condolence group. We plan to deliver a letter to
Mr. Lee also said to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, “I once once more request that, with a big resolution, we will conduct a joint fact-finding (acceptance) and dispatch a condolence team.”
The bereaved family will hold a funeral for Lee Dae-jun on the 22nd.
On the 17th, Lee will go to Cincinnati, Ohio, to meet the parents of Otto Warmbier, an American college student who died while being detained in North Korea.
After the death of their son, the Warmbiers sued North Korea for damages and won.
After receiving advice from the Warmbiers on how to hold North Korea accountable, Lee plans to work with them and inform the international community regarding his brother’s story.
Meanwhile, Ha Tae-kyung, a member of the People’s Power, who attended the general meeting of the ‘International Parliamentary Federation for the Human Rights of Free Immigrants in North Korea’ (IPCNKR) on the same day, suggested that the three-way human rights talks between the two Koreas and the United States be pursued to discuss the human rights issue in North Korea.
“If North Korea takes proactive measures on human rights issues, I propose to boldly lift non-military sanctions accordingly,” he said.
/yunhap news
