Defector expresses remorse for aiding in assassination of pastor who assisted North Korean refugees

A North Korean defector has reportedly expressed remorse for providing information on the movements of a pastor in China who was known for assisting refugees fleeing from the Communist regime.

Han Chung Ryeol, a pastor at a church in China's Changbai City, had provided assistance to defectors fleeing the border region before they could be caught and sent back to North Korea.

According to The Telegraph, Han disappeared in April 2016 and was later found dead with his throat slashed.

The North Korean government has been suspected of being involved in the pastor's death, but Chinese authorities said they were unable to find any evidence that Pyongyang had carried out the attack.

The Daily NK news site reported that a North Korean defector has recently confessed to her involvement in the case.

According to a source in China, a woman in her twenties was blackmailed to become an informant in October 2015 after North Korea's Ministry of State Security (MSS) caught her smuggling scrap iron and medicinal herbs between North Korea and China.

Beginning in mid-February 2016, she was ordered to record the movements of Han and pass the information to security officers.

"The young woman received commendation and rewards for her contribution after the murder was carried out. She was also told that she would be severely punished if information about the murder was leaked," the source told Daily NK.

A separate source in China said that the woman was surprised to receive the reward, and learned that the operation resulted in the assassination of the pastor rather than a kidnapping.

"She was shocked to learn that she had taken part in a murder, and began to develop contempt for North Korea. That's when she decided to defect. She felt heavy guilt for her own part in the crime, and despised the MSS for manipulating her in that way," the source recounted, adding that the North Korean authorities manipulated and sexually assaulted the defector.

"The MSS officer in charge and even a Ministry of People's Security (MPS, North Korea's police force) who knew about her situation both sexually abused her. They abused her in every way imaginable, as a person and as a woman," the source added.

United Press International reported in May 2016 that Han had received a phone call from a North Korean woman in her late 20s prior to his murder.

The woman, identified in the report as Kim, was later seen in a surveillance footage with three people who were believed to be North Korean agents, according to Choe Seong-yong, the head of the activist group representing abducted families.

The activists believed that Kim was a trusted confidante of Han because he was willing to meet with her after receiving the phone call. They speculated that North Korean agents might have threatened to harm Kim during the call and that Kim was assisting the pastor with his mission until she was apprehended.

Choe said that North Korea has a record of murdering Christian ministers who assist defectors in the border regions. He noted that agents are responsible for killing Pastor Ahn Seungun in 1995 and Kim Dongsik in 2002.