Left-wing group leaders charged for violating security law

SEOUL, Dec. 2 (Yonhap) -- South Korean prosecutors on Tuesday indicted five
leading members of a left-wing civic group on charges of spreading North Korean
propaganda in the South while a trial is ongoing for several others accused of
the same crime.
The five from the Solidarity for Practice of the South-North Joint Declaration
were the second batch of the group's leaders to be put to trial for alleged
violation of the National Security Law. Four others were indicted in October.
Their indictments under the anti-communist security law were the first such kind
in a decade.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office said members of the latest group,
whose names were withheld to not affect the upcoming trial, have been accused of
producing and disseminating documents praising North Korea and its leader Kim
Jong-il. One of them was suspected of campaigning to support North Korea's
nuclear weapon test in 2006.
The security law, which punishes activity benefiting enemy states, namely North
Korea, is highly controversial with its contradictory interpretation of freedom
of expression. Liberals and civic groups as well as Amnesty International have
called on Seoul to abolish the law, while conservatives and the Lee Myung-bak
government hold it as a legal tool against communist propaganda.
The Seoul-based organization was established in 2000 to commemorate the
first-ever inter-Korean summit between then South Korean President Kim Dae-jung
and the North Korean leader earlier that year. Prosecutors charged it openly
praised the North Korean regime through popular portal sites and some of its
members pledged allegiance to the North Korean leader.
The organization denied the accusations and warned it will file a defamation suit
against the prosecution.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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