An investigation by the prosecution into the 2019 repatriation of two North Korean fishermen has found that they had expressed intent to defect in written form several times.

A ruling party official said on Friday that during questioning by South Korean authorities at the time, the North Korean fishermen submitted handwritten letters insisting that they freely desired to live in the South.

In their letters, they cited the difficulty of living in the North as their motive for defecting and requested Seoul’s protection, which the Yoon Suk Yeol government believes supports the view that their stated intent to defect was sincere.

A focal point of the persisting controversy is the sincerity of the fishermen’s request to defect, with officials from the previous Moon Jae-in administration asserting that their appeals were not genuine.

The current Yoon administration believes that if the repatriation was pushed through despite their sincere intent to defect, the previous government violated their human rights, especially as the two North Koreans were reportedly executed immediately after being taken to the North. 

It remains to be seen whether the entire contents of the protection request and self-introduction letters penned by the fishermen will be released.