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This time, I will give you the breaking news about the incident that sent North Korean fishermen back to the North 3 years ago.

At that time, the government said that the fishermen were sent back to the north because they were the heinous criminals who killed 16 people.

However, as for the specific content, additional investigation was necessary because the statements of the two were different, but suspicions arose that the investigation was stopped after the Blue House meeting at the time.



Reporter Ahn Hee-jae reported.



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[Kim Yeon-cheol / then Minister of Unification (November 2019): (Is the investigation perfected for all the 16 murders claimed by North Korea?) I said that it coincided...

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'We separated and investigated two captured North Korean fishermen, and they detailed the crime process and were consistent', 'It was like the SI of our military's special handling information'. He said he had determined that the murder allegations were true.



However, the two fishermen's statements differed in details, a government official said.



All of them admitted the crime, but the statements were mixed on specific details such as the method of the crime and the tools used.



For this reason, additional investigations, including on-site verification of the fishing boats, were required, but the joint investigation was completed quickly after the Blue House meeting two days after the capture.


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In the process, there were also suspicions that the need for additional investigation in the NIS report was deleted and the expression 'defect' was changed to 'wolseon' and handed over to the Ministry of Unification.



Prosecutors believe that the early termination of the joint investigation was decided at the Blue House meeting on November 4 and are looking into the decision-making process at the time.



At the time, Democratic Party lawmaker Yoon Gun-young, head of the State Affairs Office, argued that releasing a joint investigation report containing the statements of two North Korean fishermen was the way to end the wasted debate.



(Video coverage: Seol Min-hwan, video editing: Park Jeong-sam)