Court awards W172m to family of man wrongfully convicted of spying for N. Korea

A local court has awarded nearly 172 million won (US$152,000) to the family members of a fisherman who was kidnapped by North Korea in the 1960s and then released but was later wrongfully convicted of spying for Pyongyang, judiciary sources said Wednesday.

The man was kidnapped while fishing in waters near the border island of Yeonpyeong in May 1968. After being released, he returned home in October that year but was arrested for crossing the inter-Korean Military Demarcation Line while fishing before he was kidnapped, and convicted of leaking military secrets and violating what was then the Anti-Communist Act and the Fisheries Act.

The man served one year in prison until December 1969 and was placed on probation from 1979-1990.

Following his passing in 2006, the man's family members requested a retrial in 2019 and won his acquittal on the grounds that he had been investigated under an illegal arrest without a warrant. Last December, the family sued the government for damages.

The Seoul Central District Court recently ruled in favor of the 13 plaintiffs, saying the state has a duty to compensate for their "psychological pain" and that the man's conviction was based on involuntary testimony given under illegal arrest.

The court also acknowledged the man and his family likely suffered discrimination and unfair treatment due to his wrongful conviction at a time when South Korea was under the military-backed government of President Park Chung-hee.

The court, however, awarded only part, 171.6 million won, of the 540 million won sought by the plaintiffs after reviewing the sum they previously received in criminal compensation and the degree of illegality in the government's actions. (Yonhap)