National Security Act (South Korea)
| National Security Act | |
| Hangul | 국가보안법 |
|---|---|
| Hanja | 國家保安法 |
| Revised Romanization | Gukga Boanbeop |
| McCune–Reischauer | Kukka Poanbŏp |
The National Security Act is a South Korean law enforced since 1948 with the avowed purpose "to secure the security of the State and the subsistence and freedom of nationals, by regulating any anticipated activities compromising the safety of the State." However, the law now has a newly inserted article that limits its arbitrary application. "In the construction and application of this Act, it shall be limited at a minimum of construction and application for attaining the aforemetioned purpose, and shall not be permitted to construe extensively this Act, or to restrict unreasonably the fundamental human rights of citizens guaranteed by the Constitution."
In 2004, legislators of the then-majority Uri Party made a gesture to annul the law, but failed in the face owing to Grand National Party opposition. Some poll results in 2004-2005 from the media cartel informally dubbed Chojoongdong show that more than half of the Korean people are against the abolition of the act and, so, the dispute continues.
The "anti-government organizations" the law aims to suppress have the character of "a domestic or foreign organization or group which uses fraudulently the title of the government or aims at a rebellion against the State, and which is provided with a command and leadership system."
In other words, the law made communism illegal. To that end, all of the following were made illegal: recognition of North Korea as a political entity; organizations advocating the overthrow of the government; the printing, distributing, and ownership of "anti-government" material; and any failure to report such violations by others. It has been reformed and strengthened over the past few decades, with the Anti-communism Law being merged with it during the 1980s.
The National Security Act can be viewed as a product of the Cold War and the national division of Korea. After World War II, Korean politics was polarized between left and right by the Cold War, forcing Koreans to adopt the ideology of being left or right. This created “one nation-two states” on the Korean peninsula. The resulting tension, which culminated in the Korean War between 1950 and 1953, pushed South Koreans to internalize and embrace anti-communist doctrines and brought about such legislation as the National Security Act.
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