Human Rights Watch to South Korea: Repeal outdated National Security Law

NEW YORK, May 28 (UPI) -- Human Rights Watch recommended Thursday that South Korea repeal its anti-communist National Security Law.

In a report that described the South Korean law as a "relic of the Cold War," the international NGO stated the law targets people with differing political opinions with criminal charges, rather than "debating the underlying issues."

"The [South Korean] government undermines the free exchange of opinions that are fundamental to a rights-respecting democracy," said Brad Adams, Asia director for Human Rights Watch.

The report pointed out U.N. human rights officers have told South Korea repeatedly to abolish or significantly amend the National Security Law.

The law, however, has come into increasing use in the administrations of former President Lee Myung-bak, and now President Park Geun-hye.

The highest number of cases in a decade, said Human Rights Watch, was filed in 2013, Park's first year in office.

The law is easy to violate, the report read, because it applies to "any person who makes contact with a member of an anti-state organization or a person who has received an order from it."

The law most recently was invoked to interrogate and eventually deport Shin Eun-mi, a Korean-American author in January who openly praised North Korea. Her South Korean colleague was arrested on Jan. 13, based on her participation in Shin's book tour and her poetry that also praised North Korea.

South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo reported last week that an online activist posted a public message on his blog, requesting song submissions for an event built around the theme of eliminating the National Security Law.

The songs should contain lyrics that urge the repeal of the law, the activist said online.

The South Korean newspaper reported the activist would not be interrogated, according to the Prosecutor's Office, because the event does not threaten national security.