|
Korean Job Discussion Forums
"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Teachers from Around the World!"
|
| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
catman
Joined: 18 Jul 2004
|
 Posted: Wed Oct 02, 2013 4:14 pm Post subject: Pro-NK lawmaker charged with plotting rebellion |
 |
|
| Quote: |
South Korean prosecutors indicted a left-wing lawmaker Thursday on charges that he was plotting a pro-North Korea rebellion to overthrow the government, saying his plan posed a "grave" national security threat.
Lee Seok-ki, from the small United Progressive Party, was arrested by South Korea's spy agency earlier this month for allegedly discussing launching strikes on national infrastructure with his colleagues in May in the event of a war with North Korea. The National Intelligence Service later handed him over to prosecutors.
Lee has flatly denied the allegation, saying the spy service fabricated the charges to divert criticism that its agents allegedly posted online messages supporting the conservative ruling party candidate and now-President Park Geun-hye and smearing her main liberal rival ahead of December's presidential election.
The case triggered a massive political and media firestorm in South Korea, with critics raising questions over whether there is any substantial evidence to back up Lee's alleged rebellion plot and noting past military-backed authoritarian governments often used rebellion charges to suppress political rivals.
North Korea angrily reacted to the scandal, calling it a "witch hunt" targeting those espousing greater reconciliation on the Korean Peninsula. North Korea last week cited the rebellion plot as an example of South Korea's confrontational postures that forced it to cancel this week's planned reunions of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.
Senior prosecutor Kim Soo-Nam told a news conference Thursday that Lee and his colleagues specifically brought up possible targets to attack, including a telecommunications facility in Seoul, during the May meeting, which drew 130 people. He said the plotters also discussed using websites to find ways to manufacture firearms and bombs. According to transcripts of conversations at the meeting publicized by South Korean media, some participants talked about ways to make more powerful BB guns and searching the Internet to find ways to build homemade bombs.
Kim said Lee believed that high tensions between the two Koreas this past spring would lead to war.
"It's an incident that an underground revolutionary organization ... systemically and collectively plotted to overthrow a free democracy and posed a grave threat to" South Korea's national security, Kim said.
He said Lee was indicted on two others charges -- inciting a rebellion and praising North Korea in violation of South Korea's anti-Pyongyang security law. Three of Lee's colleagues were also indicted, he said.
Defence lawyers for Lee said in a statement that prosecutors still lack decisive evidence to back up their indictment.
Earlier this year, North Korea sharply raised tensions by threatening nuclear war in anger over toughened UN sanctions over its third nuclear test in February. Animosities have gradually eased since then.
|
|
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
FriendlyDaegu
Joined: 26 Aug 2012
|
| Posted: Mon Oct 07, 2013 2:50 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Interesting that the prosecutor mentioned Korea's free democracy and a law against praising North Korea in the same sentence. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
jvalmer
Joined: 06 Jun 2003
|
| Posted: Mon Oct 07, 2013 4:19 am Post subject: |
|
|
| A few cycles old, old news. It was top news in the Korean language news for weeks like a month ago. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
catman
Joined: 18 Jul 2004
|
| Posted: Wed Nov 06, 2013 4:45 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Quote: |
SEOUL (Reuters) - A far left-wing South Korean political party could be banned from contesting elections for its pro-North Korean stance in a move critics say smacks of President Park Geun-hye's father's suppression of democracy during his long stay in power.
The Unified Progressive Party (UPP), which holds six seats in parliament and has contested presidential elections, is widely seen as supporting the reclusive North's political aims.
The two Koreas remain technically at war since the 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce rather than a peace treaty. North Korea conducted its third nuclear test this year in defiance of U.N. resolutions and has threatened the South and its major ally, the United States, with nuclear destruction.
Justice Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn said a request to disband the UPP would be submitted to the Constitutional Court.
"We have concluded that the principles and objectives of the United Progressive Party are in line with North Korean-style socialism, which goes against the basic rules of free democracy," Hwang told a news conference On Tuesday.
"The cabinet meeting this morning approved of filing the request to disband the UPP."
He said prosecutors had alleged that senior UPP members had plotted to "stage revolutions" against the Seoul government.
It was not clear whether Park, who is on a tour of Europe, had endorsed the move. But last year, she described the views of two of its lawmakers as "dubious" and said they should not be allowed to serve in parliament.
The party secures about 1 percent of the popular vote in nationwide elections and small demonstrations calling for rapid reunification with the North are a regular feature in Seoul.
Parties deemed openly hostile to the South Korean political system are banned, unauthorized travel to North Korea is prohibited and possession of North Korean publications is strictly controlled.
OPPOSITION BLASTS MOVE TO BAN PARTY
But the main opposition Democratic United Party party denounced the move to ban the UPP as a threat to the South's democracy, which has been developing since the late 1980s.
"It is very regrettable that this unfortunate incident is happening for the first time in the history of our constitution," a party spokesman told a briefing.
The Ministry of Justice launched an investigation into the UPP following a petition filed last year by an alliance of around 30 right-wing groups calling for a ban on the party.
"This party fundamentally opposes the Republic of (South) Korea, and should be separate from (the concept of) political freedom," said Park Jung-soo, an activist heading the alliance.
Park's father, Park Chung-hee, led South Korea from 1961 until his assassination in 1979, a tenure marked by human rights abuses and the imposition of martial law, but also by policies sowing the seeds for rapid economic growth.
UPP leader Lee Jung-hee caused controversy for referring to Park Chung-hee by the name he used while serving as an officer in the Japanese Imperial Army when the Korean peninsula was under Japanese colonial rule.
The party has likened the current president to her father, using terminology that often echoes North Korean rhetoric.
|
Big mistake. Not only does this appear to be undemocratic but I am highly skeptical of the evidence lawmakers have for treason. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
NohopeSeriously
Joined: 17 Jan 2011
Location: The Christian Right-Wing Educational Republic of Korea
|
| Posted: Wed Nov 06, 2013 5:43 pm Post subject: |
|
|
South Korea..... I mean Worst Korea has its own unfortunate Quebecois moment. Even if the UPP becomes an outlawed political party, the top government brass cannot persecute every people with a far left idea. I mean the far left ideology had survived during the military eras for at least 3 decades. It's impossible. There's a saying both in Naver and Daum. A true democratic system must also embrace the most undemocratic people. But still, a right wing political party outlawing a political party shows that it's a very Marxist thing to do. And I'm disappointed by the fact that President Park Guen-hye is a very Marxist president.  |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
