The National Human Rights Commission of Korea has launched an investigation into the controversial repatriation of two North Korean fishermen in 2019.

The Commission assigned the case to its human rights violation investigator on Tuesday, according to a screen capture of the petition processing page provided by Lee Jong-bae, a Seoul city councilmember.

Lee, who filed the petition Monday, called for the public human rights watchdog “to determine whether human rights violations occurred, and what kind,” separately from the ongoing investigations by law enforcement.

“Even if the North Koreans were violent criminals, due process should have been observed,” he said in a press release.

Seoul prosecutors are investigating the former director of the National Intelligence Service, Suh Hoon, over allegations he abused his power as spy chief at the time to drop investigations surrounding the repatriation. In a rare move, the NIS filed a criminal complaint against Suh with the Seoul prosecutors’ office earlier this month after its internal investigation found grounds to suspect wrongdoing.

Typically, the Commission avoids opening investigations into cases while they are still being investigated by law enforcement. But cases involving certain criminal suspicions such as abuse of power and unlawful arrest are exceptions.

In December 2020, the Commission dismissed the petition for the same case filed by the Lawyers for Human Rights and Unification of Korea. The Commission said there were “limits to accessing facts and establishing validity.”

The lawyers’ group filed a lawsuit over the dismissal, and the court in March this year ruled that the Commission should withdraw its decision not to pursue the case.

By Kim Arin (arin@heraldcorp.com)