2023-09-21 09:54:55
North Korean Kim Yo-jong (left) and anti-North Korea leaflet distribution scene./Chosun DB
The Constitutional Court will make a ruling on the 26th on the unconstitutionality of the Inter-Korean Relations Development Act, which punishes ‘distribution of anti-North Korea leaflets’. It has been two years and nine months since a constitutional petition was filed with the Constitutional Court regarding the ban on distributing anti-North Korea leaflets.
According to the legal community on the 21st, the Constitutional Court designated the 26th as the sentencing date for the case confirming the unconstitutionality of the anti-North Korea leaflet distribution provisions of the Inter-Korean Relations Development Act. This law, which was passed before the Constitutional Court, punishes distribution of leaflets with up to 3 years in prison or a fine of up to 30 million won, and is called the ‘North Korea Leaflet Ban Act’.
The law banning leaflets once morest North Korea was newly established in December 2020 during the Moon Jae-in administration. It was the opportunity for the North Korean defector group ‘Free North Korea Movement Coalition’ to fly regarding 500,000 anti-North Korea leaflets into North Korea’s skies between April and June 2020. In response to the distribution of these leaflets, North Korea’s First Vice-President Kim Yo-jong of the Workers’ Party fiercely criticized them, saying, “Please make a law to stop the clowns’ play (spreading leaflets once morest North Korea),” and the Moon Jae-in administration announced in just four hours that it was pushing for a law to ban leaflets once morest North Korea. The Democratic Party passed the law on December 14 of that year despite opposition from the opposition party.
Accordingly, the ‘Lawyers for Human Rights and Unification of the Korean Peninsula’ filed a constitutional petition on December 29, 2020, claiming that the provision on punishment for distributing anti-North Korea leaflets was unconstitutional. Minister of Unification Kwon Young-se, who is in charge of the law, said in November last year, “The law banning anti-North Korea leaflets violates the principle of prohibition of excessiveness, infringes on freedom of expression, and violates the principles of legality, clarity, and proportionality, thereby violating the Constitution.” A written opinion containing the contents was submitted to the Constitutional Court. After two years and nine months of deliberation, the Constitutional Court decided to determine whether it was unconstitutional.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court ruled in April that the Moon Jae-in administration’s action to revoke the establishment permit of the Free North Korea Movement Coalition for distributing anti-North Korea leaflets was unfair.
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