`Pro-N. Korea Group Pledges Loyalty to Kim Jong Il`

Members of the pro-North Korean group Inter-Korea Joint Declaration Implementation Alliance took an oath of loyalty to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and the communist country’s late leader Kim Il Sung, prosecutors said yesterday.

“The alliance has advocated a communist form of reunification and contacted North Korean spies under the guise of civil exchanges,” the Seoul Central Prosecutors` Office said.

Four members of the alliance including director Kang Jin-gu and executive chairman Choi Han-wook were indicted on charges of violating the National Security Law.

Alliance PR manager Song Hyeon-a wrote a song in 2004 to mark Kim Il Sung’s birthday. The lyrics said, “We are the soldiers of the Great Leader, however strong U.S. power might be. We hear the cheers of the people.”

Song was indicted last year for posting on the Internet threats against then presidential candidate Lee Hoi-chang and is now on trial.

Prosecutors also seized a letter containing an oath at a member’s home. The document is assumed to have been drawn up in 2004 ahead of Kim Il Sung’s birthday, saying, “I will fight while keeping the slogan ‘For the Great Leader!’ in mind. I miss the Great Leader.”

Since the end of 2005, the alliance has allegedly led a “rectification” drive among pro-North Korea organizations, urging college students who support the North’s “juche (self-reliance)” ideology to follow in the footsteps of Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung.

To manage its organization, the alliance has reportedly run a secret bulletin board on its homepage and established strict security rules. Each member has a code name and is allowed one-to-one contact to protect their identities. To hide their whereabouts, members also manipulated their phone numbers by adding figures to each digit.

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