SEOUL (Reuters) - A South Korean court found four former government officials guilty on Wednesday of forcibly repatriating two North Korean fishermen in 2019, despite their intention to defect, in a case that provoked criticism from global human rights activists.

At the time they were deported, the government of former President Moon Jae-in called the fishermen "dangerous criminals" who had killed 16 colleagues in a fight over an abusive captain on their ship before crossing the sea border.

The Seoul Central District Court suspended sentencing for the four, who had held office under Moon, and had all denied wrongdoing.

They were former National Security Office chief Chung Eui-yong, former presidential chief of staff Noh Young-min, former National Intelligence Service chief Suh Hoon and former Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul.

South Korea hands down suspended sentences for crimes seen as relatively minor that are not viewed as convictions in the traditional sense, but figure in the criminal record.

In 2022, South Korea reopened the case, with the office of now-impeached President Yook Suk Yeol denouncing the repatriation to North Korea that called the defectors "human scum" as a potential "crime against humanity".

The deportation was also criticised by rights watchdogs, including U.S.-based Human Rights Watch, which called it illegal under international law because of the likelihood the men would be tortured. Their fate has not been confirmed.Photographs and videos released by the Yoon administration in 2022 showed South Korean security officials dragging the men over the border into the hands of North Korean troops.

Outside the court, former National Security Office chief Chung defended the repatriations and said he would discuss whether to appeal the ruling.

"Those repatriated ... in November 2019 were not just North Korean defectors who committed criminal acts in the course of defection, as prosecutors claim," Chung told reporters.

"They brutally killed 16 of their fellow sailors (and) fled from North Korean society."

Prosecutors could not immediately be reached for comment.

(Reporting by Joyce Lee and Hyonhee Shin; Editing by Ed Davies and Clarence Fernandez)