70 people nabbed for doing pro-NK activities online

About 70 people including government employees, military officers, lawyers, professors, doctors and teachers are under criminal probe on suspicion of circulating materials praising North Korea online in violation of the National Security Law.

The National Police Agency said Wednesday that those under investigation are suspected of posting “enemy-benefitting” materials on pro-North Korea websites or their personal homepages.

One employee at the Military Manpower Administration’s Busan office has allegedly uploaded 17 videos praising North Korea and its leader Kim Jong Il on YouTube since December 2009. Police raided his residence on Oct. 13, confiscating eight books on the North’s late founder Kim Il Sung and a computer hard disk.

A Korean Air pilot posted about 60 articles or video clips on his website praising North Korea, violating the National Security Law’s clause banning South Koreans from praising the North. He allegedly posted digital files of original materials published by the North on his homepage so that visitors could view the files.

Police said he disguised his Internet homepage as a scientific research site.

Since a pilot has the legal right to detain passengers, the possibility that the pilot could have flown his plane to the North along with its passengers cannot be ruled out. He has been subsequently banned from leaving South Korea and flying.

“If North Korean sympathizers obtain key information about South Korean troops and leak it to the enemy, this could become a serious national security issue,” a police officer said, adding intensive investigations await the pro-North Korea suspects.