A two-year prison sentence was finalized for Ha Yeon-ho, 72, head of Jeonbuk People's Action, who was brought to trial on charges of meeting a North Korean operative and exchanging contacts for years.
The Supreme Court's Second Division (Presiding Justice Oh Kyung-mi) on the 24th upheld the lower court's ruling that sentenced Ha, indicted on charges of violating the National Security Act, to two years in prison. The court said, "There is no error in the lower court's understanding of the legal principles regarding the establishment of the crime of violating the National Security Act."
Prosecutors indicted Ha on charges of meeting A, a South Korea operations agent affiliated with the North Korean Cultural Exchange Bureau, in places including Hanoi, Vietnam, and Beijing, Changsha, and Zhangjiajie, China, from 2013 to 2019. Ha and A coordinated meeting schedules by exchanging emails and also exchanged major domestic and international situations.
The email was operated by the two sharing a single account. Some documents contained jargon used by North Korean operatives and had dual security measures.
Prosecutors sought eight years in prison, saying Ha repeatedly engaged in activities benefiting the enemy, such as sending a congratulatory message for the first anniversary of Kim Jong-un's rule. Ha argued innocence, calling the case a "public security witch hunt."
The first trial found part of the charges guilty. For charges before Nov. 2015, it sentenced six months in prison, suspended for one year, and six months of disqualification; for charges after that, it sentenced one year in prison, suspended for two years, and one year of disqualification.
The appeals court additionally found part of the communications and contact that the first trial deemed not guilty to be guilty. It sentenced Ha to a total of two years in prison and remanded Ha into custody in court.
The appellate panel said, "The defendant knew the counterpart was a South Korea operations agent yet met for a long period and exchanged contacts by email and other means, so considering the content, duration, frequency, and circumstances, the nature of the crime is very bad."
The North Korean Cultural Exchange Bureau is an organization whose goal is to subvert the system by recruiting figures in Korea's political circles and government, and in social, cultural, and religious circles and civic groups, to build an underground party organization. To that end, it collects state secrets and carries out assassinations and terror against key figures. A was selected as a South Korea operations agent in the early 1980s.