Ministry stresses humanitarian consideration over home remittance by NK defectors
This file photo, provided by Kyodo News, shows a marketplace in Hyesan, North Korea, Sept. 5, 2020. Yonhap
Humanitarian aspects should be considered in handling legal issues involving remittances sent by North Korean defectors to their families back home, the unification ministry said Tuesday.
"Both legal and humanitarian aspects should be considered in a balanced way," a unification ministry official told reporters after a Seoul court was reported to have recently delivered a not-guilty sentence to a person accused of brokering remittances sent by North Korean defectors to their families back in the North.
The defendant was among many North Korean defectors charged with violating the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act for involvement in remittances to North Korea under former President Yoon Suk Yeol's government.
Before the conservative government, remittances by North Korean defectors to their families back in the North had largely been tolerated as long as no security-related issues were suspected.
"Money sent by defectors to their families in North Korea often amounts to nothing more than living expenses. Under the current situation, where there is no law regulating this, some (defectors) had been indicted under the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act," the official explained.
The official's remarks signal President Lee Jae Myung's administration is likely returning to the more relaxed way of handling defectors' remittances to North Korea.