hankyoreh

By Lee yu-jin, staff reporter

The sister of a North Korean defector accused of espionage while working as an official for the city of Seoul alleged on Apr. 27 that she was compelled to testify after being subjected to abuse and threats while under illegal detention for six months by the National Intelligence Service (NIS).

The sister, 26, held a press conference on Apr. 27 to announce her allegations. Her brother, a 32-year-old identified by the surname Yoo, is an ethnically Chinese defector from North Korea who was arrested in February for espionage while working as an official with the city.

“Around the time it surfaced under interrogation by the Joint Interrogation Center [for North Korean defectors] that I was Chinese, an NIS employee hit me on the head and kicked me,” the sister reported.

She went on to say that she was held in solitary confinement while being filmed by a surveillance camera.

“They only let me sleep four hours a day, and they kept questioning me about my brother’s alleged espionage,” she said.

Yoo also said she had been acting under duress when she authenticated a document brought to her by NIS employees, who told her it was her brother’s statement.

“They coerced me into verifying that my brother [who defected from North Korea in 2004] had traveled back and forth to North Korea several times as part of his ‘espionage activities,’” she added. “I objected, but I couldn’t help believing when they told me he had confessed.”

“They told me that if I verified it, he would only get a one- to two-year sentence, and then the two of us could live here in South Korea,” she explained.

It also emerged that the NIS detailed the sister illegally. She was taken to the Joint Interrogation Center (JIC) upon her arrival on Jeju Island on Oct. 30, 2012, and held there for six months while undergoing questioning as a “witness” in the case. Chinese nationals are not subject to JIC protections according to the Act on the Protection and Settlement Support of Residents Escaping from North Korea. She was finally freed six months later on Apr. 26 after Seoul Central District Court reviewed a habeas relief request questioning the legitimacy of her detention.

Yoo also claimed she was prevented from contacting the outside while under detention, including attorneys and her father in China.

A counsel team organized for her the group MINBYUN-Lawyers for a Democratic Society said the claims would have a major impact on the espionage case.

“The prosecutors’ case rests entirely on her evidence,” the team explained. “It’s so clear that her brother is innocent now that there is no need for any more objective evidence.”

The NIS responded with a press release downplaying the impact of Yu’s testimony.

“We launched the investigation based on the sister’s account, but we uncovered much additional evidence by searching his residence and office and questioning around 50 North Korean defectors from the same area,” the press release said.

It went on to strenuously deny the abuse and detention claims.

“We plan to take strong legal action against MINBYUN for playing on her emotions to get her to recant her testimony,” it said.

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