Lee Seok-ki is a member of the Unified Progressive Party. This party is leftist nationalist, but not revolutionary socialist. Still the government of South Korea sees the party as ''dangerous'', because the UPP is very critical of the US-South Korean relations and supports the removal of American troops from South Korea. Lee Seok-ki was no stranger to prison. In 2002 he was arrested and jailed for two years because he was a member of the Min-hyuk Party which was labelled as a anti-governmental entity. All organisations who oppose the capitalist nature of the Republic of Korea are banned and its members face arrests and jail time. Under the dictatorial National Security Law ( NSL ) many leftists have been arrested and jailed during the military dictatorship!
Like most young South Koreans in the 1980's, Lee Seok-ki joined the students movement for democracy and civil liberties. South Korea at that time was ruled by a military junta, supported by the USA. This junta arrested many leftists, they were called ''DPRK supporters'' and ''communist criminals''. But not only leftists were arrested, liberals and humanists were jailed too during the regime of general Chun Doo-hwan, who ruled South Korea from 1979 till 1988. Chun Doo-hwan was an anticommunist and hated freedom of speech for leftists. Because of his strong anticommunism he was supported by Ronald Reagan and his administration. Only after massive protests of students in 1987 was Chun Doo-hwan forced to accept that democracy could no longer be excluded from South Korea. The ruling class agreed and ( liberal capitalist ) opposition parties were allowed to participate in elections. Behind the scenes however the government remained intolerant and to this day uses the National Security Law, to harass and intimidate leftists who oppose the Republic of Korea!
South Korea's intelligence agency had many names. During the years of Syngman Rhee ( 1948-1960 ) it was called the Korean Counter-intelligence Corps. Its mission was to save-guard the totalitarian anticommunist dictatorship of the old autocratic Rhee. In 1961 dictator Park Chung-hee created the Korean Central Intelligence Agency, fully modelled after the American CIA. The KCIA was a master in hunting leftists and progressives. Many students were arrested and tortured in KCIA prisons. The organisation ruled with iron fist and the military dictatorship of Park Chung-hee were very pleased with the results. But the irony came in 1979, when the director of the KCIA killed dictator Park Chung-hee. After the murder of their president/dictator, the South Korean military junta changed the name of the KCIA to Agency for National Security Planning ( ANSP ). Under its new name the ANSP continued with its mission to arrest, torture and silence political opposition to the military dictatorship of South Korea!
As a young student Lee Seok-ki joined the Min-hyuk Party. Many students in South Korea were guided by leftist nationalism and anti-Americanism. Their hatred of the USA was understandable, they saw how hypocrite the Americans were. Praising democracy in their propaganda yet supporting a military dictatorship, the students hated the Americans for their hypocrisy. Some developed sympathy for the North Korean Stalinist system, these nationalist students believed that the north was the true Korean state, as it was completely independent from other nations!
Although democracy was introduced after 1987, the government still hunted leftists who declared their oppostion to the Republic of Korea. In 2002 the government arrested Lee Seok-ki for his membership in the Min-hyuk Party. But the liberal opposition and progressive activists called his arrest a politically motivated action and he was pardoned in 2003. After being freed, Lee Seok-ki supported the Democratic Labour Party. This leftist nationalist party was popular with some workers, but also had many leftists who were sympathetic to the DPRK. This is why the conservative government of South Korea, kept a very close eye on the Democratic Labour Party and all who supported it. By 1999, the Agency for National Security Planning was renamed again, today it is called the National Intelligence Service ( NIS ). Its mission is still the same: to save-guard the capitalist Republic of Korea and to arrest all supporters of the DPRK in the south!
Lee Seok-ki was elected to the South Korean parliament in 2012, as a member of the new Unified Progressive Party. Lee played an active role as a member of the National Assembly's Science, ICT, Future Planning, Broadcasting and Communications Committee. He worked hard to balance the unequal South Korea-US relations, to promote reconciliation and cooperation between the two Korea's and to promote impartiality in the media. For his leftism he was hated by the anticommunist veterans of the Korean War, who demanded his execution. The NIS and the ruling conservatives wanted him back in jail and finally took action in 2013 to silence Lee!
For the govermment of South Korea, Lee Seok-ki is a “North-sympathizing communist” and “trouble-making revolutionist” trying to destroy the legal order. With ''legal order'' they mean the corrupt-capitalist order which rules South Korea since 1948. A legal order who murdered 150.000 South Koreans and blamed the Stalinist north for 55 years. A legal order who still is using undemocratic methods to silence leftists and opponents of the ROK!
On 28 August 2013, the NIS and South Korean police forces raided the HQ of the Unified Progressive Party. They arrested Lee Seok-ki and 7 members of the party for ''trying to overthrow the government of the Republic of Korea''. The NIS indicted Lee for three charges: violating criminal law by 1: Plotting an insurrection and 2: Inciting an insurrection and violating the notorious National Security Law by 3: “Ccting in concert” with the North Korean regime!
During his trial the NIS pointed at a meeting between UPP party members and Lee Seok-ki. During this meeting Lee gave a lecture on a possible war between the ROK ( South Korea ) and DPRK ( North Korea ). Lee presented his objectives views on this point and voiced his deep concerns on what would happen to progressive activists if a war with the north would break out. During the last war, the anticommunist government murdered 150.000 people, most were called ''communist supporters''. How would the government of South Korea react to people who would oppose a war with the DPRK?
Some UPP members wanted to obstruct the American soldiers in South Korea if a war would brake out. But Lee Seok-ki opposed this and wanted a pacifist opposition to the war if it would brake out. In secret the NIS had recorded this meeting ( totally undemocratic ) and showed it during the trial. Many in the public became alarmed when Lee Seok-ki used a word for Korea which made him a ''Northern supporter'' in the eyes of dogmatic anticommunists. Lee used the ancient name of Korea; Choson, a word no longer used by South Koreans. Only the Stalinist regime in the north still calls Korea; Choson. However leftist nationalists also use the word Choson, when they speak about Korea. Using Choson is a social stigma in South Korea and by using it Lee Seok-ki was called a ''northern supporter''!
The NIS and the government also claimed that he led the fictional ''Revolutionary Organisation'' a supposed group of 130 South Koreans who oppose the ROK and would fight for the DPRK. They claims that the RO is a continuation of the People's Democratic Revolutionary Party, a former illegal party that was banned during the military years for its support of the DPRK. Also worth saying it that today's president of South Korea is the daughter of former military dictator Park Chung-hee, who was killed by the KCIA director in 1979. Park Geun-hye is the first female president of South Korea. She is a conservative and a supporter of the National Security Law, which her farther used many times to arrest, jail and torture political opponets!
During a political debate, the candidate of the Unified Progressive Party told Park Geun-hye that her father was a Japanese collaborator, which is true. When he was young Park Chung-hee decided to enter the Changchun Military Academy of the Manchukuo Imperial Army under the name: Takagi Masao. He graduated top of his class in 1942 and was recognized as a talented officer by his Japanese instructors, who recommended him for further studies at the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in Japan. Reviling this information caused a shock wave and must have been a huge embarrassment for Park Geun-hyes who still glorifies her murdered father. After Lee was arrested, many leftist Koreans believed this was a payback action of the conservative government. Because the UPP had reviled to South Korea that Park Geun-hye father was a Japanese soldier!
Lee Seok-ki was sentenced to spend 12 years in prison. The ruling class and their anticommunist allies now want to ban the Unified Progressive Party. If they succeed then the only opposition to American imperialism is gone. Although the UPP is not revolutionary socialist, the party does opposes US imperialism. The jailing of Lee Seok-ki proofs that the NIS is still very powerful and able to create his hoax to silence the opposition to the Republic of Korea. In 2011 the NIS went after 8 leaders of the Socialist Workers League of Korea, this anti-Stalinist revolutionary socialist group was also targeted for their opposition to the Republic of Korea. After a long fight in the courts, the 8 leaders were convicted because they rejected what the NIS called the ''free democratic order'' of South Korea!
We revolutionary socialists oppose the National Security Law and the National Intelligence Service. They are the weapons of the Korean ruling class against progressives, socialists, humanists and anti-capitalists. Those who think that South Korea is a democracy must wake up, this nation is not a free democracy. Its democracy is only good as long as you support the structure of the Republic of Korea. Fighting for a socialist alternative is not allowed. If you say you oppose the ROK and capitalism, you are called a “North-sympathizing communist” and “trouble-making revolutionist” for which you can be jailed. The media of South Korea is very anticommunist and able to turn many people against you. Freedom of speech only for the members of the ruling class and their capitalist political parties!
These are the people who worked for the totalitarian Syngman Rhee
and the military dictators!
and the military dictators!
