South Korean court acquits defector over money transfers to North

A South Korean appeals court acquitted a North Korean defector accused of illegally sending money to relatives in the North, her lawyer told AFP Wednesday, overturning a lower court’s verdict in a case underscoring the legal grey area around humanitarian remittances.

About 34,000 North Korean defectors live in South Korea, according to Seoul’s official data, and many are believed to stay in touch with relatives in the North and send them money.

But there is no clear legal channel for such transfers because the two Koreas have no banking ties and remain technically at war as their 1950-53 conflict ended without a peace treaty.

Defectors typically rely on informal broker networks operating through China, with funds passing through multiple bank accounts before reaching recipients in the isolated North.

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An appeals court acquitted the defendant on Tuesday, recognising that the actions in question were taken to assist defectors without any profit purpose, Lee Hee-suk, a lawyer representing the defendant, told AFP.

The complex process of wiring funds into the North can cost as much as half of the original remittance in brokerage fees, according to the public interest foundation Dongcheon, established by law firm BKL, which represented the defendant pro bono.

South Korean authorities had long taken a relatively lenient approach toward humanitarian remittances by defectors, provided the funds were not intended to support the North Korean regime.

But under former hawkish President Yoon Suk Yeol’s administration, authorities launched nationwide investigations in 2023, leading to about 10 defectors being prosecuted under the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act, according to Dongcheon and local news reports.

About half accepted fines without appealing, the organisation added.

The defendant, a woman in her 50s, was indicted in 2023 on charges of violating the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act.

A lower court had acknowledged that the remittances had humanitarian motives and were effectively unavoidable under current circumstances, but ruled in February last year that they nonetheless violated the law.

She had received a suspended one million won ($670) fine, Dongcheon said.

The appeals court acquitted her on Tuesday.

“We welcome the acquittal … (we) hope it will have a positive impact on the cases that are still pending,” lawyer Lee said.

In November last year, a Seoul court acquitted a North Korean defector in a similar case, in what was believed to be the first not-guilty ruling involving humanitarian remittances to relatives in North Korea, according to Yonhap.