ID :
210225
Thu, 09/29/2011 - 12:01
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/210225
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S. Korean man indicted for attempting to defect to North
DAEGU, Sept. 29 (Yonhap) -- Local prosecutors on Thursday arrested a 49-year-old man and charged him with attempting to defect to North Korea and circulating illegal materials that promote the communist country.
The man was accused of sneaking into the U.S. through Canada in 2008 and sending e-mails to the North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea and the country's representative to the United Nations, seeking their help in his bid to defect to North Korea, the Daegu prosecutors said.
After his requests received no response, the man, whose identity was withheld, visited the North's representative office in September last year. But the North side refused to let him into the country, according to the prosecutors.
The South Korean made the repeated attempts to become a North Korean citizen after a major business failure fueled his discontent with the capitalist South, the prosecutors noted.
He was accidentally caught by authorities after mistakenly sending an e-mail, intended for the North, to the South's representative to the U.N., the prosecution added.
The man was also charged with possessing and spreading contents of banned North Korean books, they said.
He repeatedly sent e-mails to reporters and filed Internet postings to promote North Korean founder Kim Il-sung's memoir "With the Century" and other communistic titles, according to the prosecution.
In South Korea, citizens are prohibited from possessing materials promoting the "enemy" nation under the strict National Security Law since the Korean War ended with an armistice in 1953, not a peace treaty.
"The prosecution will step up scrutiny over similar crimes as they, if left unscreened, are feared to mushroom," Park Yong-ki, a prosecution official, said.
The man was accused of sneaking into the U.S. through Canada in 2008 and sending e-mails to the North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea and the country's representative to the United Nations, seeking their help in his bid to defect to North Korea, the Daegu prosecutors said.
After his requests received no response, the man, whose identity was withheld, visited the North's representative office in September last year. But the North side refused to let him into the country, according to the prosecutors.
The South Korean made the repeated attempts to become a North Korean citizen after a major business failure fueled his discontent with the capitalist South, the prosecutors noted.
He was accidentally caught by authorities after mistakenly sending an e-mail, intended for the North, to the South's representative to the U.N., the prosecution added.
The man was also charged with possessing and spreading contents of banned North Korean books, they said.
He repeatedly sent e-mails to reporters and filed Internet postings to promote North Korean founder Kim Il-sung's memoir "With the Century" and other communistic titles, according to the prosecution.
In South Korea, citizens are prohibited from possessing materials promoting the "enemy" nation under the strict National Security Law since the Korean War ended with an armistice in 1953, not a peace treaty.
"The prosecution will step up scrutiny over similar crimes as they, if left unscreened, are feared to mushroom," Park Yong-ki, a prosecution official, said.
