Dozens Of North Korean DEFECTors Arrested By The 'vanishing' Secret Police

North Korea's young generation signed up for military service. (Source: KCNA)

JAKARTA - Lebih dari 100 warga Korea Utara hilang setelah ditangkap polisi rahasia ketika mencoba membelot dari negara yang terisolasi itu atau bahkan karena mencoba menelepon kerabat di Korea Selatan.

Hal ini disampaikan kelompok hak asasi manusia yang berbasis di Seoul, Kamis, 31 Oktober dikutip dari Reuters. Kelompok Kerja Keadilan Transisi (TJWG) merilis laporan yang merinci pola penghilangan paksa melalui studinya berdasarkan wawancara dengan 62 pelarian Korea Utara di Korea Selatan.

Puluhan ribu warga Korea Utara telah membelot dalam beberapa dekade sejak Perang Korea berakhir pada tahun 1953 dengan gencatan senjata, dengan banyak dari mereka yang ditangkap atau dipulangkan dikirim ke kamp penjara atau fasilitas penahanan lainnya sebelum dibebaskan.

Kelompok tersebut mengidentifikasi 113 orang dalam 66 kasus penghilangan, termasuk kasus-kasus dalam arsip, membuka tab baru yang dijalankan dengan organisasi internasional lainnya, serta peta yang menggambarkan rute transfer.

Dari 113, 80 atau 90 persen ditangkap di dalam Korea Utara dan sisanya di China atau Rusia, dengan sekitar 30 persen menghilang sejak pemimpin Kim Jong Un mengambil alih kekuasaan pada akhir 2011.

Hampir 40 persen dari mereka hilang setelah tertangkap mencoba melarikan diri dari negara itu, sementara 26 persen bertanggung jawab atas kejahatan anggota keluarga lainnya. Hampir 9 persen dituduh berhubungan dengan orang-orang di Korea Selatan atau negara lain.

Lebih dari 81 persen menghilang setelah dipindahkan dan ditahan oleh Kementerian Keamanan Negara (MSS), polisi rahasia Korea Utara yang dikenal sebagai "bowibu", menurut laporan tersebut.

Seorang narasumber yang membelot ke Selatan pada tahun 2018 dari kota perbatasan China, Hyesan, mengatakan temannya ditangkap oleh MSS ketika mencoba memulihkan ponsel China yang disembunyikan di pegunungan, dan sekarang dikabarkan telah meninggal.

"Begitu (MSS) menemukan catatan panggilan dengan Korea Selatan, itu dianggap sebagai pelanggaran serius," kata orang yang diwawancarai seperti dikutip dalam laporan tersebut.

Kang Jeong-hyun, direktur proyek tersebut, mengatakan laporan tersebut dimaksudkan untuk menggarisbawahi penghilangan paksa yang dilakukan oleh rezim Kim sebagai kejahatan transnasional yang juga melibatkan China dan Rusia.

JAKARTA - More than 100 North Koreans have disappeared after being arrested by secret police while trying to defect from the isolated country or even trying to call relatives in South Korea.

This was conveyed by a human rights group based in Seoul, Thursday, October 31, quoted from Reuters. The Transitional Justice Working Group (TJWG) released a report detailing the pattern of forced disappearances through its study based on interviews with 62 North Korean fugitives in South Korea.

Tens of thousands of North Koreans have defected in decades since the Korean War ended in 1953 by ceasefire, with many of those arrested or repatriated sent to prison camps or other detention facilities before being released.

The group identified 113 people in 66 cases of disappearances, including cases in the archive, opened new tabs run with other international organizations, as well as maps describing transfer routes.

Of 113, 80, or 90 percent were arrested in North Korea and the rest in China or Russia, with about 30 percent missing since leader Kim Jong Un took power in late 2011.

Nearly 40 percent of them went missing after being caught trying to escape the country, while 26 percent are responsible for other family members' crimes. Nearly 9 percent are accused of dealing with people in South Korea or other countries.

More than 81 percent disappeared after being transferred and detained by the Ministry of State Security (MSS), North Korean secret police known as "bowibu", according to the report.

A resource person who defected to the South in 2018 from the Chinese border town, Hyesan, said her friend was arrested by MSS while trying to recover Chinese phones hidden in the mountains, and is now rumored to have died.

"Once (MSS) finds a record of calls with South Korea, it is considered a serious offense," the interview person was quoted as saying in the report.

Kang Jeong-hyun, director of the project, said the report was intended to underscore the forced disappearances committed by Kim's regime as transnational crimes that also involve China and Russia.