ID :
201128
Sun, 08/14/2011 - 06:30
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/201128
The shortlink copeid
Anti-communist law violators jump 25 pct under Lee gov't
SEOUL (Yonhap) - The number of National Security Law violators has increased 25 percent during the conservative Lee Myung-bak presidency, data compiled by the National Police Agency (NPA) showed Sunday.
The NPA data released by a ruling party lawmaker said 87 people were punished for violating the anti-communist law on an annual average in the three years since Lee's inauguration in 2008, up 25 percent from 69.6 recorded during the five-year rule of Lee's liberal predecessor, Roh Moo-hyun.
Under the National Security Law, any South Korean can be sentenced to prison if convicted of praising an "anti-state organization," a reference to North Korea.
During the Roh administration, which maintained a conciliatory stance toward the North, the number of National Security Law violators caught by police had been on the decline, falling from 173 in 2003 to 68 in 2004 to 35 in 2006.
Since the inauguration of Lee, who links inter-Korean ties to the North's denuclearization, the number of violators caught by police has increased from 40 in 2008 to 70 in 2009 to 151 in 2010, the data showed.
Last week, Han Sang-dae, the nation's newly appointed prosecutor general, declared war on pro-North Korean activities and corruption.
"The prosecution is the guardian of free democracy," Han said in his inaugural address Friday. "It is the prosecution's obligation to crack down on North Korean followers and supporters operating in our society."
He promised to reinforce the prosecution's public security organizations in order to more actively conduct investigations into pro-North Korean forces.
The NPA data released by a ruling party lawmaker said 87 people were punished for violating the anti-communist law on an annual average in the three years since Lee's inauguration in 2008, up 25 percent from 69.6 recorded during the five-year rule of Lee's liberal predecessor, Roh Moo-hyun.
Under the National Security Law, any South Korean can be sentenced to prison if convicted of praising an "anti-state organization," a reference to North Korea.
During the Roh administration, which maintained a conciliatory stance toward the North, the number of National Security Law violators caught by police had been on the decline, falling from 173 in 2003 to 68 in 2004 to 35 in 2006.
Since the inauguration of Lee, who links inter-Korean ties to the North's denuclearization, the number of violators caught by police has increased from 40 in 2008 to 70 in 2009 to 151 in 2010, the data showed.
Last week, Han Sang-dae, the nation's newly appointed prosecutor general, declared war on pro-North Korean activities and corruption.
"The prosecution is the guardian of free democracy," Han said in his inaugural address Friday. "It is the prosecution's obligation to crack down on North Korean followers and supporters operating in our society."
He promised to reinforce the prosecution's public security organizations in order to more actively conduct investigations into pro-North Korean forces.
