South Korea’s repatriation of six North Koreans hints at fragile channel of contact

A vessel carrying North Korean returnees crosses into Northern waters in the East Sea on July 9. According to the Unification Ministry, the boat — carrying six North Korean men rescued south of the NLL in March and May — crossed the maritime border at 8:56 a.m. and met a North Korean patrol ship at 9:24 a.m. [MINISTRY OF UNIFICATION]

[NEWS ANALYSIS] 
 
Six North Koreans returned to their homeland by boat on Wednesday, marking the first confirmed instance of repatriation under President Lee Jae Myung and also the first known direct human exchange between the two Koreas in months.  
 
On the surface, the repatriation was a routine act of humanitarianism: six fishermen who had drifted into South Korean waters earlier this year were rescued, interviewed and sent home at their own request. 
 
But to some analysts, the carefully calibrated gesture may suggest something more — a subtle but possible signal of coordination, even as formal communications between the two Koreas remain severed. 
 
The repatriation also reflects the early contours of Lee’s more conciliatory approach toward North Korea, contrasting with the hawkish stance of his predecessor, Yoon Suk Yeol. While Lee has maintained a firm stance on deterrence and alliance coordination, he has also taken steps — including halting loudspeaker broadcasts and curbing anti-North leaflet launches — that signal a willingness to reduce tensions and reengage. 
 

A small North Korean wooden boat is towed to a port in Yangyang County on Oct. 24, 2023. The file photo is unrelated to the July 9 repatriation. [YONHAP]

A return without a word
 
The six men in their 30s and 40s — two rescued in the Yellow Sea in March and four in the East Sea in May — expressed desires to return to the North, according to South Korean officials.
 
“We notified the UN Command through the established channel last week and again this week, sharing coordinates and timing,” explained a senior Unification Ministry official, speaking on background, on Wednesday. 
 
The UN Command, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War, still administers parts of the armistice agreement and remains a conduit for technical notices to the North.
 
Despite the silence, Seoul went ahead.
 
The six were escorted on a wooden vessel across the de facto maritime border. 
 
When they crossed the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the East Sea, a North Korean patrol boat and a fishing vessel were waiting and took custody of the men.  
 
The boat carrying the six men safely docked at a North Korean port, a South Korean government official later confirmed Thursday. 
 
As of Thursday afternoon, Pyongyang offered no public comment.
 
The decision to proceed without explicit consent from North Korea drew scrutiny from some observers. Repatriating people into the custody of a hostile state without a confirmed reception carries both humanitarian and political risks.
 
“We wouldn’t have proceeded if we thought they wouldn’t be received,” said the ministry official. “Based on experience, and ongoing communication through the UN Command, we had reasonable confidence the North would be there.
 
Had Pyongyang not shown up, the official added, the South was prepared to bring the men back. 
 
Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies, said the government’s swift decision to proceed, even in the absence of formal approval from Pyongyang, reflected a conscious effort to avoid unnecessary speculation from both the North and international human rights bodies.
 
“Had Seoul waited indefinitely for Pyongyang’s reply, it could have created another generation of long-term unconverted prisoners,” he said.
 

A North Korean fisherman resists repatriation at Panmunjom in November 2019 who was forcibly returned to the North after allegedly murdering 16 crewmates. The men expressed intent to defect but were deported within five days. [MINISTRY OF UNIFICATION]

A contrast with the 2019 forced return
 
The latest repatriation of fishermen under the Lee administration differs from a still-contentious case from November 2019. 
 
Then, under the liberal Moon Jae-in administration, two North Korean fishermen captured in South Korean waters were forcibly sent back to the North via Panmunjom despite expressing a desire to defect.
 
The backlash was immediate and fierce.  

 
Human rights groups condemned the decision. The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights also criticized the move, and even some members of Moon’s own party expressed concern. 
 
The government claimed the men had confessed to murdering 16 of their crewmates and were thus “serious criminals” undeserving of asylum. They were sent back within five days, and later reports indicated they had likely been executed.
 
This time, the Unification Ministry emphasized that the government carried out the case entirely on “humanitarian grounds” in accordance with the “individuals’ expressed will” to repatriate.
 
The method of transfer was also different. 
 
Unlike the case in 2019, which took place via the heavily fortified and symbolically charged inter-Korean border village that hosted the Moon-Kim Jong-un summit the year before, Wednesday’s repatriation occurred by sea. According to officials, the approach was chosen in part to minimize direct confrontation. 
 
“A land repatriation through Panmunjom would have required face-to-face contact, which we judged to be inappropriate given the North’s lack of a clear response,” the ministry official said. “The maritime route was chosen for its relative safety and indirectness.”
 
Even so, the repatriation was the longest delayed. 
 
In previous cases since 2010, North Koreans without intent to defect were typically returned within a month. This time, it took over four months.
 
Some have suggested that South Korea’s leadership vacuum earlier in the year, marked by Yoon’s impeachment and a snap election, may have slowed the decision-making process.
 
 
“If anything,” the ministry official noted, “the process could have been handled more efficiently had communication channels between the two Koreas been functioning normally” — a reminder, perhaps, of just how constrained inter-Korean coordination remains. 
 

Unification Ministry spokesperson Koo Byoung-sam speaks during a regular briefing at the Government Complex Seoul on July 7. [NEWS1]

A quiet step forward 
 
However, the Unification Ministry was careful not to overstate the implications of the operation, stressing that the repatriation had never been intended as a political gesture or an attempt to improve ties with Pyongyang.
 
Although government officials insist the move was apolitical, some North Korea analysts argue that the moment could mark the start of something more significant.
 
Yang interpreted the North’s participation as a kind of tacit acknowledgment of recent South Korean gestures, including the suspension of loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts and the curbing of anti-North leaflet launches. 
 
“This shows a pattern of reciprocal tension reduction,” he added. 
 
Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University’s Institute for Far Eastern Studies, said the handover illustrates how the Lee administration’s humanitarian overtures are drawing limited but notable cooperation from the North, pointing out that the North proactively dispatched vessels in this case suggests a “cautious trust” in Seoul’s new direction.
 
Lim tied the moment to other recent moves, such as the South’s decision to authorize certain private organizations’ engagement with the North — a reversal of restrictions under former President Yoon.
 
While full-fledged dialogue remains premature, Lim said, if both sides build on it, the repatriation might even lead to renewed discussions on reviving the September 2018 military agreement.
 

President Lee Jae Myung holds his first press conference on July 3 at the Blue House in central Seoul. [YONHAP]

Lee himself has indicated a willingness to engage.
 
In his first official press conference last week, Lee likened the inter-Korean relationship to that of a married couple, stressing that “even if we’re angry, we must listen to each other” and “even during war, diplomacy continues.”
 
He emphasized that restoring dialogue and reducing damage through negotiation was essential to building peace and coexistence on the Korean Peninsula.
 
Lee also noted that, despite deep mistrust, North Korea had responded positively to the South’s unilateral suspension of loudspeaker broadcasts. “Just like that, we need to ease tensions step by step,” he said.
 
Lim said the opportunity should not be wasted.
 
“Seoul should use the repatriation as an opportunity to build momentum for resumption of dialogue,” he said. 

BY SEO JI-EUN [[email protected]]