Koreans demand repeal of National Security Law
By
Deirdre Griswold
Published Feb 23, 2005 10:51 AM
It is hard to imagine a more repressive statute than South Korea's National
Security Law, which has been on the books since 1948. Under this law, political
prisoner Kim Sun Myoung was held in solitary confinement for 44 years--a world
record. Other long-term political prisoners were held for decades because they
refused to renounce their political beliefs.
New York
WW photo: Deirdre Griswold
|
Under the NSL, people could
be, and were, thrown into jail--and even executed!--for such offenses as
"enemy-benefitting activities." The "enemy" referred to is North Korea. The
Korean people, who have had one culture and language for thousands of years,
have been divided ever since World War II. U.S. troops in the South enforce this
cruel division, which affects millions of Korean families.
For the last
six months, a vigorous campaign to repeal the NSL has been waged in South Korea
by a coalition of over 300 civic organizations and popular movements, including
the National Alliance for Democracy & Reunification of Korea, the Korean
Confederation of Trade Unions, the Korean Peasants League, People's Solidarity
for Participatory Democracy and the Korea Truth Commission. Even the South
Korean government's own Human Rights Commission has recommended the repeal of
the NSL.
Los Angeles
Photo: minjok.com
|
The law is especially anachronistic now that the two halves of
the Korean peninsula are engaged in a process of dialogue and exchanges long
prohibited. While government officials and business figures from the South
regularly visit the North, private citizens can still be arrested for making the
trip. So hundreds of thousands of people have signed petitions and, in the fall,
600 went on a hunger strike calling for the law's abolition.
But hard-line
rightists allied with the U.S. occupation forces are furiously opposed,
predicting that crowds of people waving the flag of the Workers Party of Korea,
the governing party in the North, will flood downtown Seoul if the law goes down
to defeat.
The campaign to repeal the NSL reached the U.S. on Feb. 19. In
Los Angeles, New York and other cities with significant Korean communities,
candlelight vigils were held to abolish the hated law.
The Los Angeles
protest took place at a busy intersection in one of the largest Korean
population centers outside Asia. The locale has seen several vigils--most
recently one opposing the sending of South Korean soldiers to Iraq.
In New
York, the vigil was held at 32nd Street and Broadway, heart of the commercial
area known as Koreatown.
Sponsors of the campaign include the Korea Truth
Commission, which has an online petition and explanation of the law at
korea-is-one.org, One Korea-L.A. Forum, and the Korean American East Region
Alliance to Abolish National Security Law.
Workers World Party and the
Inter national Action Center also participated in solidarity with the Korean
movement. In Los Angeles, Judy Greenspan spoke on behalf of
WWP.
This article is copyright under a Creative Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: [email protected]
Subscribe [email protected]
Support independent news http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php)
|
