Yoon vows efforts to prevent forced repatriation of N. Korean defectors

SEOUL, July 14 (Yonhap) -- President Yoon Suk Yeol said Sunday that South Korea will "spare no diplomatic effort" to prevent the forced repatriation of North Korean defectors overseas.

"We will never neglect North Korean people suffering in the North Korean regime," Yoon said during the commemoration of the inaugural North Korean Defectors' Day held at Cheong Wa Dae. "We will spare no diplomatic effort to ensure North Korean defectors in a foreign country aren't repatriated to the North against their will."

Addressing about 200 defectors and their family members, Yoon said their pursuit of freedom serves as a reminder of how freedom can change people's fate.

"I will do my best to ensure everyone who defects North Korea will be embraced by the Republic of Korea," Yoon said, referring to South Korea by its official name. "Resolving North Korean human rights issues is an important foundation for peace and unification of the Korean Peninsula, and accepting North Korean defectors is the first step toward that."

Yoon vowed to enhance support for North Korean defectors, so that they can find their footing south of the border.

As part of that effort, Yoon said resettlement funds provided to the defectors, stuck at the same level since 2005, will be substantially increased.

The president also said the central and regional governments and state-run institutions will hire more defectors. Companies that employ defectors will be offered tax credits, among other incentives, Yoon added.

The government will also support communities of North Korean defectors, so that those who arrived in South Korea early can help others coming in after them, Yoon said.

During a Cabinet meeting on Jan. 16, Yoon instructed the unification ministry to designate a day for North Korean defectors, stressing that those defectors are South Korean citizens under the Constitution.

The ministry then chose July 14 as the official day for the defectors because the law on protecting them and supporting their settlement in the South went into effect July 14, 1997.

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