Court overturns conviction of defector who helped send money to family in North Korea

A court has overturned a lower court's guilty verdict against a North Korean defector who helped other defectors send money to family members back in the North, marking the latest ruling to push back against a string of prosecutions targeting such remittances.

The Uijeongbu District Court on Tuesday acquitted a 54-year-old North Korean defector on charges of violating the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act, reversing a lower court ruling that had handed the defector a suspended fine.

A police investigation found the defector helped North Korean escapees send money to family members left behind in the North in 2021, using their own bank account and that of an acquaintance in China a total of 11 times.

The Goyang branch of the Uijeongbu District Court, ruling in February last year, acknowledged that the defector's method of sending money had been unavoidable, but still found the defector guilty.

Legally sending money abroad requires currency exchange and transfer through a licensed foreign exchange bank, but that route is unavailable to North Korea.

Defectors instead rely on broker accounts ...