A South Korean appeals court has acquitted a North Korean defector who was accused of illegally sending money to relatives in North Korea, overturning a previous conviction in a case that highlights the legal uncertainty surrounding humanitarian financial support across the border.
The ruling, delivered on Tuesday, reversed an earlier decision that found the woman guilty of breaching South Korea’s Foreign Exchange Transactions Act.
Her lawyer, Lee Hee-suk, said the court accepted that the transfers were made solely to help family members and were not intended for financial gain.
Around 34,000 North Korean defectors are currently living in South Korea, according to official figures. Many are believed to remain in contact with relatives in the North and provide financial assistance despite the absence of any formal system for transferring money.
The two Koreas remain technically at war because the 1950–53 Korean War ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty.
As there are no direct banking links between the two countries, defectors typically rely on informal brokerage networks operating through China. Money is often moved through several bank accounts before reaching recipients in North Korea.
According to the public interest foundation Dongcheon, which supported the woman’s legal defence free of charge, brokerage fees can consume up to half of the original amount being sent.
For many years, South Korean authorities generally adopted a flexible approach towards humanitarian remittances, provided the funds were not intended to benefit the North Korean government.
However, that approach changed under former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s administration. In 2023, authorities launched nationwide investigations into such transfers, leading to the prosecution of about 10 North Korean defectors under the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act, according to Dongcheon and local media reports.
The organisation said around half of those prosecuted accepted fines without challenging the decisions in court.
The woman, who is in her 50s, was charged in 2023. Although a lower court acknowledged that her actions were driven by humanitarian reasons and reflected the practical difficulties of sending money to North Korea, it ruled in February last year that the transfers still breached existing law. She received a suspended fine of one million won (around 670 US dollars).
The appeals court has now overturned that ruling, clearing her of all charges.
Her lawyer welcomed the decision, expressing hope that it would influence other similar cases that are still before the courts.
The judgment follows another notable ruling in November last year, when a Seoul court acquitted a North Korean defector in a comparable case.
According to Yonhap News Agency, that decision was widely regarded as the first acquittal involving humanitarian money transfers to relatives in North Korea, signalling a possible shift in the courts’ interpretation of the law.
