'이적단체' 굴레인가, '정치 탄압'의 서막인가: 민중민주당 지도부 구속 갈림길에 서다 > 뉴스

The origins of this incident go back several years. The Security Investigation Department of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency has been closely tracking the movements of the People's Democratic Party since 2024. The authorities believed that they had gone beyond simple political party activities and formed a subversive organization that followed North Korea's logic, and continued an intensive investigation, starting with a search and seizure of our company in August 2024. In July of last year, key party members, including the leader, were summoned as suspects and investigated, without slowing down the judicial process. The specific actions that the authorities are taking issue with are charges of threatening national security and sympathizing with North Korea's propaganda and instigation, such as leading a rally calling for the withdrawal of U.S. troops in Korea and defining joint ROK-U.S. military exercises as "practice for a war against North Korea."

The People's Democratic Party's logic in response to this is very firm and political. They emphasize that they are a legally registered political party under the Political Party Act, starting as the ‘Recovery and Welfare Party’ in 2016, and claim that denouncing the entire party as a profiteering organization is a direct challenge to the freedom of political party activities guaranteed by the Constitution. In particular, we are strongly expressing that this request for an arrest warrant is a politically planned investigation aimed at covering up the misdeeds of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration and suppressing critics. Rather, they are defining themselves as ‘victims of the civil war’ and appealing for public support by putting forward the frame that the investigative agency is trying to turn them into perpetrators by reversing the causal relationship.

At the center of the legal battle is Article 7 of the National Security Act. This provision strictly prohibits acts that praise, encourage, or propagandize or incite the activities of anti-state organizations, and stipulates that violations of this are punishable by imprisonment for up to 7 years. Additionally, if you form or join a subversive organization, the level of legal punishment is very high, with a prison sentence of more than one year possible. Investigative authorities believe that their activities went beyond simply advocating political party policies and took the form of receiving orders from North Korea or simply following its claims. The suspects expressed strong dissatisfaction with the request for an arrest warrant even though there was no risk of flight and had been actively engaged in political activities, and they had announced a large-scale press conference in front of the court on the day of the examination on the 16th.

This investigation is once again putting the ideological landscape of our society to the test. In a democratic society, political parties have the right to criticize policies and suggest alternatives in any form, but if their activities reach a level that harms the existence and security of the country, the age-old question of how far they can be tolerated has reappeared. The police are trying to prove the charges through steady internal investigation and evidence collection, and the suspects are not backing down, calling this a judicial overthrow by state power. The direction of the public security situation in the future is expected to fluctuate significantly depending on whether the court in charge of reviewing the substance of the warrant views their activities as ‘the category of democratic political party activities’ or defines them as ‘violations of the National Security Act.’