(Yonhap Interview) N. Korean POWs in Ukraine should not be repatriated against will: U.N. official

By Park Boram

SEOUL, June 21 (Yonhap) — North Korean soldiers captured by Ukrainian forces in the war with Russia should not be repatriated against their will and should be allowed to make an informed decision for themselves, the chief of the U.N. Human Rights Office in Seoul has said.

In January, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy disclosed the capture of two wounded North Korean soldiers in Russia’s western Kursk region, with one of them later expressing hope to go to South Korea in an interview with a South Korean newspaper.

“The obligation (for prisoners of war) not to be sent back to face serious risks of serious human rights violations applies to these two individuals,” James Heenan, representative of the office in charge of North Korean human rights issues, said in a recent interview with Yonhap News Agency.

“It does depend on what they want, and when they make their decision, they have to make the decision,” Heenan said, stressing they should be given information about their rights and options so they can make an “informed” decision.

It’s “just not for others to decide what’s best for them,” he said.

In regard to South Korea’s move to curb activists’ anti-Pyongyang leaflet campaigns, Heenan emphasized the importance of striking the right balance between freedom of expression and national security.

The new South Korean government has begun blocking North Korean defectors and activists from sending anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets across the border to North Korea as President Lee Jae Myung vows efforts to bring peace to the Korean Peninsula.

He said the campaigns may be motivated by a “genuine intent” to improve the human rights situation in North Korea through independent information, although some of that information can be “inflammatory.”

He cited national security as one of several reasons recognized under international law for limiting freedom of expression.

“It’s a balance between freedom of expression and national security or the rights of others or public order … this is a time for the government … to work that balance out and get it right,” Heenan noted.

The representative cited freedom of expression and freedom of movement as among the areas where the most severe rights violations have been observed recently in North Korea.

“Movement outside the country is extremely constricted. Very very few people leave the country, even legally and illegally,” the official added.

He also emphasized human rights should be the top priority when countries engage in discussion about North Korea.

“We see discussions that focus solely on peace and security or nonproliferation and missiles. The (U.N. human rights) high commissioner’s view is that you can’t discuss those things without having human rights included as well,” Heenan noted.

In September, the Seoul office will release an updated report building on the 2014 Commission of Inquiry report commissioned by the U.N. Human Rights Council, which found systematic human rights violations by the North Korean regime.

The upcoming report will be presented to the council by the high commissioner.