Police press sedition charge against labor group chief

Seoul police leveled an additional charge of sedition against the leader of Korea’s second-largest umbrella trade union on Friday as they handed him over to the prosecution for further investigation into what they called illegal rallies last month.

It is the first time in nearly three decades that the rare charge has been pressed. The last sedition case occurred in May 1986 when police clashed with protestors at a massive rally over a constitutional revision in Incheon.

Police officials said that Han Sang-kyun, the head of Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and other participating groups had premeditated the rallies on Nov. 14. They said their findings suggested that Han and the others had deliberately planned illegal and violent activities, such as pulling down police bus barricades and physical abuse of police officers.

Korean law stipulates that participants in a mass assembly that leads to violence, threat or destruction of property can be charged with sedition, and can face up to 10 years in prison or a fine of 15 million won ($12,655).

The police’s decision to press the sedition charge has stirred controversy over whether the investigator’s intent is to define the nature of the rally as “illegal and violent.”

While the authorities have held the protesters responsible for the damages and injuries that occurred during the November rally, the protesters said the police’s “excessive actions” had triggered physical clashes with them.

A farmer who participated in the rally was hit by a police water cannon ― mixed with tear gas ― and has remained unconscious for over a month, while a 20-year-old student claimed to have been blasted with tear gas while being carried off in an ambulance.

Cho Young-sun ― of the Lawyers for a Democratic society, or Minbyun ― accused the Park Geun-hye administration of attempting to denigrate the rallies, which protested contentious government policies such as labor market reform and reinstitution of state-issued history textbooks.

“(The government) is trying to label (KCTU) as a ‘violent group.’ They don’t care if Han is acquitted or not in the court,” Cho said. “With another mass rally scheduled for Saturday, the government is trying to establish a frame of ‘violent rallies vs. authorities’.”


By Yoon Min-sik
(minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)