지난 22일 ‘북한문제에 관한 영국의원협회(APPGNK·The All-Party Parliamentary Group on North Korea)’는 도미닉 랍(Dominic Raab) 영국 외무장관에게 ‘지난해 북한 해역에서 북한군에 피살된 남한 공무원 사건을 조사하기 위한 합동조사단을 구성할 것을 남북한 양쪽에 촉구하도록 요청한다’는 내용이 담긴 서한을 보냈다.

서한에는 서해에서 실종된 후 북한군에 생포돼 사살된 서해 어업지도원 이모씨의 이야기가 담겼다.

모임은 비무장 민간인에 대한 치명적인 공격에 우려를 표한다고 밝혔다. 또 이씨를 사살한 것을 두고 ‘코로나바이러스 예방 차원이었다’는 북한의 주장에 대해서도 ‘믿을 수 없고, 받아들일 수도 없다’고 했다. 그러면서 김정은이 이씨의 유해를 소각한 것을 두고 한국 정부에 사과한 것은 ‘부인과 자녀들에겐 (이 사과가) 충분하지 않다’고 했다.

모임은 ‘이번 공무원 피살 사건에서 보인 북한의 모습이 지난 수십 년간 북한이 저질러온 주민 수백만의 죽음에 대한 변명과 유사하다’고 했다. 그러면서 이는 북한 정권이 인간의 존엄성을 존중하지 않는 데서 비롯된 것이라고 했다. 

모임은 ‘평양주재 영국대사가 직접 북한 당국에 이번 사건에 대해 문제를 제기해줄 것’을 요구했다. 또한 이번 공무원 사건의 진상을 밝히기 위해 영국 외무부가 남과 북에 공동 조사를 주장해야 한다고 했다.

국민의힘 태영호 의원(서울 강남갑)은 이번 서한에 대해 “우리 국민의 억울한 피살 사건에 대해 영국 정부가 대신 나서는 꼴”이라며 “우리 정부는 (사건의 실체를 밝히기 위해) 구체적으로 어떠한 노력을 기울였는지는 밝히지 않고 있다”고 주장했다.

북한문제에 관한 영국의원협회(APPGNK)는 영국 상원 의원인 앨튼 경(Lord Alton Of Liverpool)을 포함한 영국 의원 일행이 2003년 9월 방북한 뒤 결성됐다. 

이 모임은 북한 인권, 민주주의 증진 등 영국 의원들의 주요 관심사항에 대해 협의하는 것에 목적이 있다.

글=이경훈 월간조선 기자

아래는 서한 全文

22 January, 2021

The Rt Hon Dominic Raab MP

Secretary of State

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development

Office

King Charles Street

London SW1A 2AH

Dear Foreign Secretary,

The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on North Korea is writing to bring to your attention the killing of a South Korean fisheries official, Mr. Lee, and to ask that you make representations to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea about this incident. Mr Lee was captured, shot dead, and his remains burned at sea, by North Korean forces on 22 September 2020, supposedly to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

This fisheries official unintentionally crossed into North Korean waters, near YeonPyeong Islands.

The North Koreans carried out their “shoot-to-kill” order on the basis of his unauthorised trespass. They wore gas masks and protective suits officials when they poured petrol on Mr. Lee’s body and burned his remains.

The United Front Department of the Central Committee of the Worker’s Party of North Korea explained in a letter to the President's office in South Korea that Mr. Lee was an “illegal intruder” who refused to comply with standard orders. They explained that the captain took the decision to shoot Mr. Lee dead, under maritime patrol duties and the code of conduct of the North Korean forces. They say that when there was no movement or sounds after the shooting, patrol officials approached up to about 10 metres but only the floating material was identified with a large of bloodstain, which they burnt on the basis of State covid-19 emergency preventive regulations.

Our APPG is concerned that this fatal attack on an unarmed, ordinary South Korean fishery official, should be allowed to pass without remark. North Korea’s justification for their actions is “coronavirus prevention” but this lacks all credibility and is unacceptable. The apology of the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un for the killing of an innocent and unarmed man, who could be a father of the children and wife, is insufficient.

What is required is a commitment that this incident will not happen again and for an

agreed protocol to be put in place with South Korea. For example, North Korean patrols could find an alternative way of addressing unintentional border breaches by waiting for South Korean patrol forces to attend.

Once again, North Korea’s justification for the killing of civilians, whether their own citizens or those from the South, is completely unacceptable. They are similar to the same excuses for the deaths of millions of North Korean people killed over the past decades. And they are similar to their explanation for the hundreds of thousands of men and women who are currently incarcerated in the dreadful gulags and prison cells of the North.

The people of the Korean Peninsula have endured at least 70 years of these kinds of incidents, due to the failure of the North Korean regime to respect the fundamental human dignity and humanity of all Koreans.

We would be grateful if you would ask our Ambassador in Pyongyang to raise this matter directly with the DPRK authorities; that it is raised with their Ambassador in London; and that you urge both the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to establish a collaborative investigation into this incident.

Yours sincerely,

Lord Alton of Liverpool, Co-chair All-Party Parliamentary Group on North Korea

Timothy Cho, British-North Korean escapee & Inquiry Clerk to the All-Parliamentary

Group on North Korea

Benedict Rogers, Deputy Chair of the Conservative Party Human Rights

Commission and Senior Analyst, East Asia, at CSW