Top court confirms guilty verdict against students for intruding into US envoy's residence

Members of the Korea University Progressive Association hold a press conference in front of the Seoul Central District Court in southern Seoul in this Oct. 21, 2019, photo to call for the release of four students who were arrested for breaking into the U.S. ambassador's residence. Yonhap

By Jung Da-min

The nation's top court has upheld lower court decisions that gave suspended jail sentences to three college students for intruding into the U.S. ambassador's residence in Seoul.

The Supreme Court announced Monday that it had confirmed the one-year jail sentence, suspended for two years, for the members of the Korea University Progressive Association (KUPA).

The three were among 17 members of the group who entered the Habib House compound in Jeong-dong, central Seoul, on Oct. 18, 2019, while holding a protest in front of the residence. They had been demonstrating against then-U.S. President Donald Trump's demand for a fivefold increase in Korea's share of the costs for the upkeep of the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK).

The students used a ladder to scale the wall of the residence and protested inside the compound, shouting slogans like, “(U.S. Ambassador to Korea Harry) Harris, leave this land,” and “We absolutely oppose any increase of Korea's contribution to the defense cost-sharing deal.”

At the time of the trespassing, Harris and his wife were not in the residence.

The intruders were all taken to police stations. The prosecution sought arrest warrants for seven of them, and a local court issued warrants for four of them.

A lower court said that there were circumstances to be taken into account for the students' motives, such as protesting the U.S.' demand to increase Korea's contribution of defense cost-sharing. But it gave the four students a suspended prison sentence, saying, “Their acts damaged the functions and safety of the U.S. Embassy.”

It also ordered them to carry out 120 to 200 hours of community service.

The district court did not acknowledge the students' claim that they exercised their freedom of assembly guaranteed by the Constitution.

An appellate court also upheld the verdict of the first trial. Three of the four students appealed to the Supreme Court, but it upheld the verdict as well.

In a separate case, the appellate division of the Seoul Central District Court fined six other KUPA members between 700,000 won ($593) and 1.5 million won, Monday, for rushing the front gate of the U.S. Embassy during a demonstration out front on Jan. 31, 2019.

They had been holding a rally about 23 meters from the gate to protest the defense cost-sharing talks and demand the withdrawal of the USFK. Then they rushed the gate, and police guarding the building blocked them.

The prosecution charged them with violating the Assembly and Demonstration Act, under which demonstrations are prohibited within 100 meters of foreign diplomatic organizations or the residences of diplomatic envoys.