S. Korean Intel Questioned Executed Refugees in Groups

The 22 North Koreans found drifting in South Korean waters in the West Sea on Feb. 8 were interrogated by South Korean intelligence agents in groups of five or six, rather than one at a time as regulations require, it was learned on Tuesday.   [Chosun Ilbo]  

This was a violation of National Intelligence Service rules.  Richardson, who has debriefed North Korean defectors,  nailed it days ago when he explained why  North Koreans  must only  be questioned individually:

If they were asked as a group, the interrogators basically ensured they’d answer no; if any answered yes for the rest to hear and somehow they were all sent back to North Korea, that person would have been guaranteed being sent to a concentration camp or executed. This is – or should be – absolute basic knowledge to anyone dealing with potential North Korean defectors.  [DPRK Studies]

After just four or five hours of that and a North Korean government request, 22  people who thought they’d made it to freedom  were on their way back  to face a firing squad.