Some quick commentary on the NSL (made on another forum)... * The NSL was enacted in 1948 even before the Korean War. From the inception of the country thru the 1950s, even if you possessed communist media or even had your name on the wrong list and even if you were not at all a communist or you lived in the wrong neighborhood or you could not read some official notice, you may have been executed by dictator and war criminal president Rhees military and police (again, remember his government was established by the US). Tens of thousands perished in Jejudo Island. Likely hundreds of thousands died as the result of purges in the mainland. (This is not the say that similar incidents did not occur in the North.) At least these days, maybe you only go to jail instead of facing the firing squad and buried in mass graves. Thus, the law is not the result of a long contest between North and South - but an anti-insurgency law from the heart of the Cold War from which the ROK was established; its old as the ROK Constitution. * Too the NSL is not perceived as redundant by the rulers in ROK because its vagueness is so useful as a tool of mass political control and tool for reigning in opposition. Kim Dae Jung and Roh Moohyun were not communists but progressives. As opposition, they suffered under the NSL. Yet, as presidents, while they made some positive changes and attempted to change the NSL, but they could only barely begin to shake the foundations of the ROK-North Korean Cold War and the ROK-US security treaties. Because they held on to democratic principles and they were not military dictators like those before them, they did not have complete or arbitrary power. And likely the key security institutions of ROK, even under Kim and Roh, maintained allegiance to the Cold War with North Korea and with the security treaties with the US. Also DPRK was perceived still as a threat by many South Koreans, out of both habit and frequent DPRK saber rattling and provocations. Thus the NSL and the basic Cold War structures survived their administrations. * Kim Young Sam was the first civilian democratic president in a long time to serve out a complete term, but his administration was more a compromise between the democratic impulses of Koreans and the ruling military dictatorships of the time. The only way for him to get into power without an armed struggle was likely to promise to keep things largely as they were, or compromise with the former dictators and the dominant security systems in ROK at the time. This helped ROK transition to a democracy peacefully but did not bring about sweeping institutional change. * Maybe if the military dictatorship were overthrown by a vast civilian revolution (e.g., if the Kwangju uprising spread to the rest of the country and into the government), it may have been possible to bring about an institutional revolution in ROK - but as we know up to 3,000 people were killed by dictator president Chun Doo Hwans US backed military. Although the US denies or does not acknowledge involvement, it is likely Chun had secret approval of the US CIA and the highest offices of the US administration since it required ROK to move large amounts of military personnel and equipment on war footing; he might even have been recruited by the CIA. * It is not likely an impeccable anti-communist candidate will have the non-ideological and reasonable state of mind to consider NSL a criminal law, rather the NSL is the product of an impeccably anti-communist policy that would not permit even open reasonable discussion or free flow of information. Its the product of the Cold War and the Korean Division, but it is also useful for keeping the two Koreas divided and perpetuating the Korean War. * Finally, it is difficult to have an open and reasonable discussion in ROK about the NSL due to the NSL itself and likely other national security related laws and institutions casting suspicion on you for being a possible communist or for possibly engaging in anti-state activities. The ROK military and intelligence services frequently penetrate civil society organizations - and likely to sabotage or entrap. The act of criticizing NSL openly may cause suspicion and prosecution under the NSL itself or at least bring you favor with the ROK intelligence services. hosted.law.wisc.edu/wordpress/wilj/files/2012/02/kraft.pdf
Posted on: Sun, 14 Sep 2014 13:37:18 +0000
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