Prosecutors Withdraw Indictment Against Park Sang-hak for Alleged Distribution of Anti-North Korea Leaflets

Constitutional Court Rules Ban on Leaflet Distribution Unconstitutional

The prosecution has withdrawn charges against Park Sang-hak, the head of the Free North Korea Movement Alliance, who was tried on charges of distributing leaflets to North Korea. This comes about two weeks after the Constitutional Court ruled the 'Law Prohibiting Leaflets to North Korea' unconstitutional.

Park Sang-hak, Representative of the Free North Korea Movement Alliance [Image source=Yonhap News]

According to the legal community on the 11th, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office submitted a motion to dismiss the prosecution to Judge Lee Kyung-sun of the 16th Criminal Division at the Seoul Central District Court on the same day. A motion to dismiss prosecution refers to the prosecutor withdrawing charges before the first trial verdict is delivered. When the prosecutor requests dismissal, the court dismisses the charges.

Park was indicted without detention last year on charges of sending leaflets, booklets, and ten US one-dollar bills attached to ten balloons twice from areas near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in Gangwon-do and Gyeonggi-do to North Korean territory in April 2021. The applicable law was Article 24, Paragraph 1 of the Act on the Development of Inter-Korean Relations, which came into effect in March 2021. According to this provision, acts such as broadcasting via loudspeakers or distributing leaflets near the Military Demarcation Line that could harm citizens' lives or bodies or cause serious danger are prohibited. Violations can result in imprisonment for up to three years or a fine of up to 30 million won.

On the 26th of last month, the Constitutional Court ruled that Clause 3 of the provision, which prohibits the distribution of leaflets, excessively restricts freedom of expression and is unconstitutional. Following the court's decision, this provision immediately lost its effect.