According to Yonhap:
A Seoul appeals court ruled Thursday the South Korean government should pay 120 million won (US$110,000) to a North Korean defector over an identity leak case that he claimed led to the disappearance of his 22 relatives in the North.
The Seoul High Court said the government claimed media reports on defection were intended to satisfy the people’s right to know, but the need to accept the defector’s request for confidentiality takes precedence over the people’s right to know or the freedom of press.
Lee Kwang-su, 42, sailed into South Korean waters along with his wife, two children and a friend aboard a small barge in 2006. He claimed he had initially planned to go to Japan and seek political asylum at the U.S. embassy there.
Lee currently lives in California after he won asylum in the United States in 2008.
He has said South Korean investigators released his identity as well as that of four others to media despite his request for confidentiality for fear of retaliation against their relatives in North Korea.
North Korean defectors in the South claim that North Korea harshly punishes relatives of defectors and sends them to prisons.
Lee believed his relatives were sent to a political prison camp, though it is nearly impossible to independently verify the claims due to lack of free access to the isolated country.
The ruling raised the amount of compensation to Lee, who was awarded 55 million won in a lower court in October. He had demanded 1.15 billion won when he filed a suit against the South Korean government in 2008.
Lee said he will consult with his lawyer before deciding whether or not appeal the ruling.
“I cannot expect justice will be served even if I appeal to the Supreme Court,” Lee said after the ruling, adding he plans to sue the South Korean government in a U.S. court. He did not give a specific time frame.
South Korean prosecutors were not immediately available for comment.
Read the full story here:
Appeals court orders S. Korean gov’t to pay W120 mln to defector
Yonhap
2011-5-19
