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| ▲ Constitutional Court justices prepare to rule on petitions on the National Security Act in Seoul on Sept. 26, 2023. (Yonhap) |
constitutional court-security law
Constitutional Court rules Nat'l Security Act as constitutional for 8th time
SEOUL, Sept. 26 (Yonhap) -- Provisions of the National Security Act that ban praising or propagating activities of any anti-state organization and possession or distribution of pro-enemy materials were ruled constitutional for the eighth time on Tuesday.
The Constitutional Court made the ruling over 11 petitions filed by individuals and district courts challenging the anti-communist law that was enacted in late 1948 at the height of ideological rivalries between the democratic South Korea and the communist North Korea.
The law aims to "secure the security of the state, and the subsistence and freedom of nationals," but it has also come under criticism for being a government tool to silence political dissidents.
The court has been asked to deliberate on the law's Articles 2 and 7. It ruled Article 7's Clauses 1 and 5 as constitutional, while dismissing the petitions against Article 2 and Article 7's Clause 3.
Since a revision of the law in 1991, the National Security Act had been challenged at the Constitutional Court seven times before, and it was ruled constitutional each time. The government has said that the law is inevitable to prevent threats to national security and cases of its abuse and misuse have virtually disappeared.
Article 7, Clause 1 of the law stipulates that any person who praises, incites or propagates the activities of an anti-government organization, or who instigates a rebellion against the state, despite knowing it may endanger the existence and security of the state, shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than seven years.
Article 7, Clause 5 specifies punishment for any person who manufactures, imports, reproduces, holds, carries, distributes, sells or acquires any anti-state documents, drawings or other expression materials.
Article 2 defines any domestic or foreign organization that fraudulently uses the title of the government or aims at a rebellion against the state as "anti-government," while Article 7, Clause 3 says any person who constitutes or joins an anti-government group shall be punished by imprisonment for one or more years.
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