Poet Kim Nam-ju, who died after serving time in prison for joining the preparatory committee of the South Korean National Liberation Front (Namminjeon), was acquitted in a retrial 46 years later.
The Seoul Central District Court's Criminal Agreement Division 28 (presiding judge Han Dae-gyun, Director General judge) on the 2nd acquitted Kim of charges including violations of the National Security Act in a retrial sentencing hearing.
The court found that there were unlawful detention and abusive acts such as assault and threats against Kim during the investigation at the time. It ruled that the credibility of his confession then was hard to recognize and found all charges not guilty.
The court said, "Kim is deceased and cannot state opinions directly in court, but it is confirmed that at the trial then Kim made statements in the nature of a confession regarding the charges," while adding, "Kim and the co-defendants were in custody at the time, and there is a possibility the psychological aftereffects remained."
It added, "Without other objective and clear evidence, it is deemed that the confessions of Kim and the co-defendants alone lack credibility to find guilt."
Namminjeon was an underground organization formed in 1976 by figures including former Minjok Ilbo reporter Lee Jae-mun, aiming for anti-Yushin democratization activities. It carried out activities such as distributing leaflets in downtown Seoul criticizing the Yushin system, and afterward more than 80 people connected to the case were arrested on charges including violations of the National Security Act. The case is regarded as a representative public security case in the late Yushin era.
Kim was arrested in 1979 on charges of anti-Yushin activities, including joining the Namminjeon preparatory committee in 1978, and the following year was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Kim's spouse and son sought a retrial in Jun. 2024. In Oct. the same year, the court found grounds for retrial under the Criminal Procedure Act and decided to open the retrial.
In the retrial that began in Dec. the same year, Kim's side said the activities at the time were acts against the Yushin system that oppressed the people's basic rights and asked for acquittals on charges of violating the National Security Act and the Anti-Communism Act to restore his honor.
About nine years and two months after being imprisoned, Kim was released in 1988 on a suspension of sentence execution, and died of pancreatic cancer in 1994.