A group of agents from the National Intelligence Service, the police, and the Prosecutor’s Office Saturday stormed the headquarters of the All-Korean Committee for Implementation of June 15 Joint Declaration in Seoul and its 5 regional offices as well as the houses of the organization’s five officials simultaneously, Yonhap News reported.
The authorities also arrested seven officials of the organization, including its leader, whose last name is Choi, for violation of the National Security Law.
The authorities reportedly launched the massive investigation of the group when it was airing the media contents from North Korea through its Internet-based “6.15TV” that allegedly violated the 7th clause of the law that prohibits the praise for and encouragement on North Korea.
But the group said the authorities’ action was aimed at cracking down on grassroots-level unification efforts by unfairly applying the National Security law.
An official with the organization argued, “I believe they are targeting us because we have been promoting unification. They are trying to turn the time back to the Cold War confrontation period.”
The group explained that the Internet-based TV has been officially registered as a media organization and it aired live footages of the candlelight vigils and meetings related to the June 15 Joint Declaration, but it said it never copied the whole North Korean contents and aired them.
The group was established in October 2000 to commemorate the June 15 Joint Declaration and promote the unification movement on a civilian level. It has been engaged in civilian exchanges between the two Koreas, demanded the withdrawal of the U.S. troops from South Korea as well as a movement to understand North Korea better.
The group’s Web site (www.615.or.kr) was inaccessible Saturday afternoon due to heavy traffic volume.
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