"‘No Worries About Housing Prices or Employment’ 60s Man Wins Contest with Praise Poem on North Korean Website"

Submission to South Korean Propaganda Website 'Urin Minjokkkiri' Work Contest
Sentenced to 1 Year 2 Months Imprisonment and 1 Year Disqualification...Actual Prison Sentence Given

A man in his 60s who won a contest hosted by North Korea's anti-South propaganda website 'Uriminzokkiri' was sentenced to prison for violating the National Security Act.

According to the legal community on the 27th, Judge Lee Jong-min of the Criminal Division 3 at the Seoul Central District Court sentenced Mr. A (68), who was indicted for violating the National Security Act (assembly, communication, and praise/encouragement), to a total of 1 year and 2 months in prison and 1 year of disqualification. In the past, Mr. A had also been indicted for praise and encouragement under the National Security Act and was sentenced to a total of 10 months in prison.

Mr. A was indicted for accessing 'Uriminzokkiri' via a proxy in September 2016 and sending a pro-North Korea expression titled 'The Way to Unification.'

The poem contained content praising the North Korean regime. It stated that if North Korean-style socialist unification is achieved, there would be free housing, jobs, free education, free medical care, and tax exemption.

Specifically, Mr. A wrote in the poem that "there is no need to wander looking for a jeonse house," "there is no need to spend days in despair without a job," and "there will be no need for many people to commit suicide."

It also included the message, "The people of the North are already united and moving forward for unification, so people of the South, let us also unite and move forward together for unification."

In early 2016, when the site announced a contest, Mr. A sent the poem to the administrator's email and the site's reader submission section, and his work was selected as a winning entry in November of the same year.

It was confirmed that Mr. A posted the winning poem on domestic internet sites immediately after being selected.

The main page of North Korea's propaganda website for South Korea, "Uriminzokkiri."
[Photo source=Captured from Uriminzokkiri homepage]

Additionally, in 2013, Mr. A wrote comments praising, encouraging, and propagandizing North Korean activities on articles related to the North Korean military posted on portal news sites. From 2014 to 2017, he was also charged with reposting 72 pro-North Korean expressions on domestic portal sites or blogs and storing them in email accounts.

The court stated, "The defendant, during the recidivism period, represented North Korea's position over a long period, glorified and praised it, and produced and distributed a significant amount of pro-North Korean expressions that threaten the existence, safety, and liberal democratic order of the state, making severe punishment inevitable," but also explained the sentencing reasons by saying, "Considering that he admitted all the crimes during the trial and did not engage in violent acts aimed at overthrowing or undermining the basic order beyond posting behavior."