Man gets suspended prison term for security law breaches

A local court on Monday convicted a 74-year-old activist for carrying out propaganda activities to praise North Korea, in violation of Seoul's anti-communist law.

The Euijeongbu District Court sentenced Kim Eul-soo, the chairman of the South Headquarters of the Pan-National Alliance for Korea's Reunification, to two years and six months in prison with a four-year stay of execution.

Kim was found guilty of posting on the group's website between April 2008 and March 2013, praising Pyongyang's ideology and demanding the pullout of American military from Seoul, prosecutors said. He also spread such postings to other websites, they added.

Enacted in 1948 to fight communism, the National Security Law bans any "anti-state" activities that attempt to praise, encourage or propagandize North Korean political ideals.

The South Headquarters of the Pan-national Alliance for Korea's Reunification, founded in 1993, was ruled as an "organization that threatens national security" by the nation's top court in 1995.

The group has often been at the center of controversies due to high-profile cases such as making an unauthorized trip to the communist country. Last year, the vice chairman of the group was put behind bars for illegally entering North Korea to attend a

memorial service to mark the 100th day since the death of long-time North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. (Yonhap News)