A man in his 50s who was formerly a member of the Unified Progressive Party and repeatedly posted content on social media (SNS) praising North Korea's regime received a suspended prison sentence on appeal.
The Incheon District Court Criminal Appeals Division 1-3 (Presiding Judge Jang Min-seok) said on the 2nd that it sentenced A to one year in prison, suspended for two years, and one year of disqualification for charges including praise and incitement under the National Security Act. The same sentence as in the first trial was handed down on appeal.
A was indicted on charges of posting seditious materials containing North Korea's propaganda, such as federal unification and a strategy to communize the South, on SNS for six years from the end of 2017 to the end of 2023. In addition to 68 posts A wrote, A also posted 137 seditious materials produced on other sites.
Earlier, the court of first instance said, "The number and duration of postings and distribution of seditious materials are considerable," but also ruled, "Our society is mature enough to filter out wrong values and ideologies on its own, so the risk that the defendant's conduct poses to the Republic of Korea's liberal democratic basic order is extremely minimal."
Although both A and the prosecution appealed, the appellate court found the first-trial verdict to be justified.
The appellate court said, "In light of various sentencing factors such as the defendant's motive and means, the original sentence does not appear unjust for being too heavy or too light."
The Unified Progressive Party, to which A once belonged, was dissolved by a past decision of the Constitutional Court designating it an unconstitutional party.