Korean-American woman expelled for pro-NK remarks

A Korean-American woman was expelled from South Korea Saturday for making a series of pro-North Korean remarks during her on-stage talks shows in South Korea, Justice Ministry officials said.

Shin Eun-mi was put on Korean Air Flight KE011 leaving Seoul at 7:50 p.m. for Los Angeles after undergoing two hours of questioning by immigration officials. The expulsion bars her from entering South Korea for the next five years.

On Thursday, the 54-year-old was suspended of indictment after being accused of making comments sympathetic to the North Korean regime at talk shows she hosted in Seoul and other provincial cities in the past several months in violation of South Korea's National Security Law.

The law bans any activities meant to praise, promote or propagandize North Korean ideals in the country.

"I feel like I was betrayed by my lover. It's just like an one-sided love," she told reporters right after receiving the expulsion order.

"I leave here today, but the government cannot drive my heart loving the country out of my fatherland. I will continue to wish for peace and reunification of Korea."

Since being sued by local conservative civic groups for alleged pro-North Korean remarks, she has said she is not a North Korean follower and her comments were all for the peaceful coexistence of the two Koreas.

Shin, through her lawyer, said she will appeal the deportation.

"She accepted the order and left today, but that does not mean she sees it as legitimate," said her lawyer Kim Jong-gui.

"I will file an administrative litigation soon against the deportation order, and file an appeal with the Constitutional Court to prove her innocence."

As for Shin's South Korean co-host Hwang Sun, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office sought an arrest warrant on similar charges.

The 41-year-old Hwang has allegedly endorsed former and incumbent North Korean leaders on an Internet broadcasting station since 2011.

She was also found to be active in an alleged "anti-state" activist group, according to police. (Yonhap)