North Korean Rights Group Claims Failed Defector Hacker Was Repatriated Disguised as Patient

Crowds begin to gather at the Air Koryo counter in Beijing.

This was the scene in August 2023, when North Korea reopened its air routes via Air Koryo flights following COVID-19 lockdowns.

["Hey! (No, I just wanted to ask something.) Put away your phone!"]

Around that time, however, claims emerged that North Korea forcibly repatriated a hacker who had failed to defect, disguising him as a patient aboard a flight.

This is the passport of the individual released by the Transitional Justice Working Group, a North Korean human rights organization.

It identifies him as Bae Yong-ju, born in Pyongyang in November 1988.

Bae was dispatched to China, where he carried out activities such as stealing cryptocurrency and hacking South Korean government agencies, before reportedly being arrested by Chinese authorities while attempting to seek asylum in South Korea.

The group stated that after undergoing six months of interrogation by Chinese authorities in Inner Mongolia, he was handed over to the consular section in Beijing via the North Korean Consulate General in Shenyang.

A businessperson involved in cross-border trade who reported the incident testified that Bae was repatriated aboard an Air Koryo flight in a wheelchair with a full-body cast so that he could not move.

This was reportedly done to avoid drawing the attention of airport staff and travelers.

[Lee Seungjoo / Profiler, Transitional Justice Working Group: "It was determined that he was repatriated in a cast so that he could not physically escape. Because we did not know whether he was dead or alive, we held off on disclosing the case, but we are now making it public as his death has been confirmed."]

The group also stated, based on testimonies from former North Korean diplomats and businesspeople involved with North Korea, that the basement of the consular section building at the North Korean Embassy in China is being used as a secret detention facility.

The organization published a report containing these findings on its website.

(Reported by Kim Ayeong | Video by Kim Nam-seong | Video Editing by Yoo Mi-ra | Produced by SBS Digital News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.