South Korea: teachers arrested for quoting from North Korean media

After reading Jamie's link in mediascapes, I looked through all the links and found the arrest out of my imagination. Eventhough South Korea has been democratized for 20 years, the Cold War / Witch-hunting rationality is so predominant.

According to Korean Teacher Union (KTU), the two teachers merely quoted remarks made by North Korean officials and media (which was cited in KTU's website), saying that "Why does North Korea want to produce nuclear weapons?" from a North Korean perspective: "North Korea claims that to possess self-defensive nuclear deterrence is its justifiable right."

However, the Judge Kim Jin-dong of Seoul Central District Court insisted that the teachers "unilaterally sympathized with the North’s positions. I thought that to teach such one-sided contents to middle school students, rather than college students, is not appropriate." (Hani).

The two teachers, Choi Hwa-seop, who teaches at Oryun Middle School, and Kim Maeng-gyu, who teaches at Cheongdam Middle School, have been held in isolation under the Seoul National Police Agency in Jangandong since January 18th, under the charge of voilation in National Security Law.

Both teachers work in reunification education which were supported by both the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Reunification.

The prosecution against reunification education teachers has been going on since September 2006 when police in Busan investigated a reunification teacher workshop there. (more about thought crime at IKTU)