A South Korean court has ruled against two North Korean defectors who sued Seoul’s spy agency for alleged illegal detainment and torture, in a case that experts say underscores the need to protect defectors’ human rights when they first arrive in the South.

Court records obtained by NK News show that the Seoul High Court rejected the defectors’ claim that the National Intelligence Service (NIS) unlawfully detained them and subjected them to harsh interrogation methods during mandatory resettlement procedures.

The judgment issued on Sept. 28 overturned a previous decision in the plaintiffs’ favor, which had awarded them 26 million won ($18,000) in damages in Nov. 2021.

According to court documents, the married defector couple entered South Korea in 2013 and then underwent a lengthy NIS interrogation, which is required for all North Koreans seeking to resettle into the South. The screening process aims to identify spies attempting to enter the country.

But while current South Korean law allows intelligence authorities to detain new arrivals for up to 120 days, the female defector and her now-deceased ex-husband alleged that they spent 165 days and 176 days at an NIS facility, respectively. 

The two defectors also claimed that NIS agents mistreated them by forcing them to run laps around a field dozens or times, detaining them in isolation and using abusive language. 

In its judgment, the Seoul High Court states that their detainment was legal since the maximum detainment period was 180 days back when they entered the country, while finding no evidence of torture at the hands of the NIS. 

The courts added that their interrogation was justified since they were suspected of exporting crystal methamphetamine from North Korea to China, which led to their receiving “unprotected status” under the North Korean Refugees Support Act. Finally, the court dismissed the defectors’ complaint that they did not have an attorney during the investigations.

Hanna Song, director of international cooperation at the Database Center of North Korean Human Rights (NKDB), told NK News that she thinks the NIS should be involved in defector resettlement but also raise human rights concerns.

“The threat that comes from Pyongyang is very real,” she said. “But from a human rights perspective, it’s important that psychological counselors and other experts should be part of the process to ensure that the rights of North Koreans are protected before their status is decided.” 

Song added that the NIS was notorious for abusing defectors’ rights during interrogations until the early 2000s. “But we’ve heard these days it’s a lot better than before,” she said. 

In 2019, the U.N. Committee against Torture visited South Korea and recommended that the NIS conduct “an in-depth revision of its culture and practices of opacity,” while noting the spy agency had begun significant reforms from June 2017.

Ethan Shin, a legal expert at the Transitional Justice Working Group (TJWC), said the nature of the vetting process for newly arrived defectors exposes them to human rights violations.

“North Korean escapees should be treated like migrants first arriving in South Korea,” he said. “While it may be necessary for the intelligence agents to be involved in the interrogation of North Korean escapees, there is little justification for the intelligence service to oversee the entire process.”  

He also argued that the justice ministry should be in charge of processing new arrivals and that the NIS should only take over when there is evidence of espionage.

“The existing legal system for North Korean escapees arriving in South Korea is in need of repair,” Shin said. “It requires a rethink of North Korean escapees as people fleeing persecution who are entitled to full South Korean citizenship rather than pawns in the political game with North Korea.”

Yeji Chung contributed to this report. Edited by Bryan Betts.