The Lawyers for Human Rights and Unification of Korea holds a press conference in front of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office building in southern Seoul, July 18. Yonhap

A group of lawyers on Monday filed a complaint asking the prosecution to investigate former President Moon Jae-in on attempted murder charges in connection with the deportation of North Korean defectors in 2019.

In November 2019, two North Korean fishermen were captured near the eastern inter-Korean sea border, and they later confessed to killing 16 fellow crew members and expressed a desire to defect.

However, the Moon administration sent them back to the North, where they could face harsh punishment, saying their intentions were insincere. The move stoked suspicion the Seoul government tried to repatriate the defectors in an effort to curry favor with Pyongyang.

On Monday, the Lawyers for Human Rights and Unification of Korea (LHUK) filed the criminal complaint against Moon as an accomplice on charges of attempted murder, illegal arrest and abduction, abuse of power, destruction of evidence, and violation of the Act on Punishment of Crimes under Jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court.