An activist-turned-opposition lawmaker in South Korea will be summoned later this week to face questioning for allegedly participating in pro-North Korean talk shows, police said Monday.
Rep. Lim Su-kyung of the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy is accused of appearing on the onstage talk shows in Seoul and other provincial cities in the past several months.
The shows, hosted by a Korean-American woman, Shin Eun-mi, reportedly contain comments sympathetic to the North Korean regime, in violation of South Korea’s National Security Law.
The law bans any activities meant to praise, promote or propagandize North Korean ideals in the country.
The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency (SMPA) probing the case said it has notified Rep. Lim to face questioning on Thursday.
The lawmaker is further accused of retweeting tweets from a Twitter account maintained by Pyongyang, according to the SMPA officers.
Lim, a former pro-unification activist, became widely known after making an unauthorized trip to the communist nation in 1989 and meeting with then leader Kim Il-sung, the North’s founder and grandfather of current leader Kim Jong-un.
The police move comes after Shin was expelled from the country on Saturday. The prosecution had suspended its indictment of her.
Last week, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office sought an arrest warrant for Shin’s South Korean co-host, Hwang Sun, on similar charges.
The 41-year-old Hwang is accused of endorsing former and incumbent North Korean leaders on an Internet broadcasting station since 2011. She was also found to be active in an alleged “anti-state” activist group, according to police. (Yonhap)
