The justice ministry says that its 2019 review of a case involving two North Korean fishermen found no legal basis for their repatriation before they were deported.

According to the Ministry of Justice on Wednesday, the ministry under the liberal Moon administration was asked, around noon on November 7, 2019, by the presidential office to review the legality of repatriating the two North Korean fishermen, who had expressed a desire to defect to South Korea.

At the time, the ministry concluded that there were no legal grounds to deport them under a law on North Korean defectors and that it would be difficult to deport them under the Immigration Act, which only applies to foreigners.

The ministry said it had not confirmed whether the results of the review were delivered to the presidential office at the time.

Earlier, when the office of Rep. Thae Yong-ho of the ruling People Power Party(PPP) asked the justice ministry whether the unification ministry had asked it to carry out a legal review of the case, the justice ministry replied it had not been involved in the 2019 decision.