UN expert on North Korea human rights to meet with Lee Dae-jun’s family

The family of Lee Dae-jun, a South Korean government worker who was shot dead by North Korean soldiers at sea in September 2020, will be meeting with Elizabeth Salmon, the United Nations’ newly appointed special rapporteur on the human rights situation in North Korea.

Lee Rae-jin, the deceased official’s older brother, told The Korea Herald that the UN Human Rights Office in Seoul confirmed to him on Monday that the family’s meeting with Salmon would be on Sept. 3.

According to Lee, his family requested the meeting with the new UN special rapporteur soon after she was appointed to the post earlier this month.

In a letter addressed to Salmon on Aug. 2, Lee’s nephew and the son of the official asked for her help in the family’s efforts “to make North Korea’s atrocities widely known.”

Lee said that during the meeting with Salmon, he wished to discuss “unresolved questions” raised by the 2020 death of his brother.

“I think that there is a role that the UN could play in raising awareness in the international community and making sure that no such atrocity occurs in the future,” he said.

In response to The Korea Herald’s question about whether the meeting was arranged, an official with the UN human rights body’s Seoul office declined to confirm, saying, “We don’t confirm meetings with special rapporteurs, but you can check with the family.”

The official added that there will be an announcement regarding Salmon’s visit on Tuesday.

Salmon is making her first official trip to South Korea for a week from Aug. 29, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Lee and his lawyer Kim Ki-yun had two meetings with Salmon’s predecessor Tomas Ojea Quintana, who served in the North Korea human rights portfolio for six years until July. 

In their last meeting in June, Quintana proposed that the family to reach out to the UN envoy on extrajudicial killings. 

Following the meeting the family recently sent a letter to Morris Tidball-Binz, the special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, in which they called for increased action from the UN in holding North Korea accountable.

In the letter addressed to Tidball-Binz, the family said that, “North Korea should offer a response to the family as to why its authorities had fatally shot a man and then burnt his body without any due process. The international community should strongly call out North Korea’s atrocities and human rights violations .”

By Kim Arin (arin@heraldcorp.com)