Uri Party Refuses to Use Term “Anti-State”

The ruling Uri Party on Tuesday proposed four legal amendments that would abolish many hotly-debated issues such as articles praising or sympathizing with anti-state groups in chapter two of the National Security Law.

The Uri Party will finalize its stance by choosing one of these four drafts in their general meeting on October 17, and will push hard with its plan to abrogate the National Security Law. But fierce opposition from the main opposition Grand National Party (GNP) and conservative groups is anticipated.

Chun Jung-bae, floor leader of the Uri Party, held a press conference at the National Assembly on Tuesday and announced three amendments on penal laws and one draft of a special law on national security.

In the first amendment, the Uri Party made some changes in chapter 87 of the Penal Law, which defines the crime of high treason. The Uri Party decided to replace the term “anti-state group” with a newly created term: “organization established for the purpose of inciting rebellion or violating the Constitution.”

According to the second amendment of chapter 102 on the state treason (Landesverrat), North Korea can be regarded as an enemy. The third amendment is a combined version of the first two amendments.

The special law proposed by the Uri Party was made up of five articles. Any organization with a leadership structure founded for the purpose of disturbing constitutional order would be punished according to this proposition. However, in the second article, stretching of the law in one`s favor and limiting of basic human rights are banned in order to prevent abuse of the law.

The main opposition Grand National Party’s spokesperson, Yim Tae-hee, urged the Uri Party to withdraw its decision, denouncing such actions as a mere means to cover up the Roh administration’s immorality and inability to deal with economic issues that are being revealed in the parliamentary inspection of the administration.

Hoon Lee Myoung-Gun Lee dreamland@donga.com gun43@donga.com