A local court in South Korea sentenced two pro-North Korean activists to eight months behind bars, respectively, on Tuesday for possessing materials that praise the communist country.
The court delivered the sentences for Do Han-young, who leads a Busan branch of an activist group for inter-Korean relations, and Jang Young-shim, a left-leaning female activist.
The two were indicted in 2010 on charges of possessing dozens of South Korean and North Korean books and materials supporting the North's long-held claims in inter-Korean relations and extolling the country's leader and political ideologies.
Some of the materials owned by Do call for the withdrawal of U.S. forces in South Korea and the abolition of the National Security Law, according to the court.
"Although the Constitutional Law guarantees the rights to conscience, belief, learning and free expression, it does not do so to the extent that the liberal democracy and national security (of South Korea) are compromised," Judge Kim Tae-kyu of the Busan District Court said. "North Korea is doubtlessly an anti-state entity and it constitutes a threat to national security to hold materials that propagandize (North's) Juche ideology that puts states ahead of individuals and the North's claims that the Republic of Korea is a U.S. colony."
The National Security Law prohibits South Koreans from praising or supporting the communist North, which is defined by South Korean law as an enemy of the state. The 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.(Yonhap)