Lawyers’ group sends letter of protest to Carter Center

“Lawyers for a Happy Society” criticized former U.S. President Jimmy Carter who announced a statement on the conviction of former Rep. Lee Seok-ki of the former minor opposition United Democratic Party by the Seoul High Court on a charge of insurrection conspiracy in December last year.

“It is regrettable that former President Carter, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, made criticism based on the completely wrong facts,” The lawyers’ group said in a letter of protest to the Carter Center on Tuesday. “His eyes seemed to be fixed to the era of former President Park Chung-hee when he was the president of the United States.”

“His primary charges are not the violation of the National Security Act but rebellion and instigation under the Criminal Code,” the lawyer group said. “It is completely wrong to claim that the ruling is based on the National Security Act, which was legislated before 1987 during the dictatorship. The Act was revised in 1991 and the Constitutional Court ruled in 2004 that the revised Act is constitutional.”

Five former lawmakers of the former United Democratic Party including Lee Seok-ki, Kim Jae-yeon and Lee Sang-gyu filed a lawsuit with the Seoul Administrative Court on Tuesday for the confirmation of their status as a lawmaker regarding the Constitutional Court’s decision to disband the United Democratic Party.