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| Former Unified Progressive Party Chairwoman Lee Jung-hee kneels down to apologize for failing to prevent the disbandment of the party, which she called "a retreat from democracy," during a meeting of progressive activists at the Franciscan Education Center in Seoul, Monday. Prosecutors have launched an investigation into members of the disbanded party to see if they violated the National Security Law. / Yonhap |
By Jung Min-ho
Prosecutors have launched a probe into members of the disbanded Unified Progressive Party (UPP), including its leader Lee Jung-hee, to see if they violated the National Security Law.
Officials at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office said Monday that the members were put under scrutiny following a complaint against them filed by a right-wing civic group on Friday.
The move came after the Constitutional Court ordered the dissolution of the UPP on Friday for its alleged pro-North Korea doctrine and removed all five of its lawmakers from the National Assembly.
The civic group claimed that all members should be punished for violating the anti-communist law.
"The court decision showed that the party is an anti-government organization and therefore they are anti-government activists," it said in the complaint.
However, despite the court ruling, prosecutors are cautious about whether all UPP members were engaged in "pro-North Korea" activities to the point where their actions seriously threatened South Korea's security.
The prosecution has yet to decide on the scope of the investigation, saying the complaint did not specify names, except for some high-ranking members, including Lee.
The law, which was enacted in 1948, criminalizes such acts as praising North Korea or forming an organization whose aim is to subvert the government.
The law was made to counter North Korean threats at a time the ideological conflict between capitalism and communism was intensifying.
However, some critics claim the law as a threat to freedom of expression.
In fact, some former political leaders abused the law as a way to remove rivals.
"The UPP members should not be considered as a unified entity just because they belong to the party," said Koh Gye-hyeon, an activist at the liberal civic group, Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice.
Other critics have also expressed concerns over what increasingly appears to be a "political witch-hunt," similar to McCarthyism in the U.S. during the 1950s. The UPP has almost 30,000 members.
Meanwhile, the five former UPP lawmakers said that they would file a lawsuit against the state to nullify the decision to strip their parliamentary seats.
"The Constitutional Court has no authority to divest us of our seats as there is no legal basis," they said in a statement. "Our rights to hold a public post were violated."
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