To the conscientious intellectuals and journalists of the world living in this era, we earnestly appeal to you.

On November 12, 2025, the Criminal Division 18 Single Judge Panel of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Yoon Young-soo) sentenced Research Fellow Lee Jeong-hoon of the Institute for the Era of Reunification to five years in prison and five years of disqualification from civil rights, and ordered his immediate detention in court.

He was convicted under the National Security Act for the charges of praise and incitement, meeting and communication, and the production and distribution of enemy-benefiting materials.

This case began in May 2021 when South Korea’s secret police (the National Intelligence Service) arrested and detained Research Fellow Lee Jeong-hoon, initiating the trial.

He was released in December of that year due to the expiration of his detention period, and the trial has continued for four years since. Over the course of the proceedings, the presiding judge changed three times.

In the meantime, the situation between North and South Korea has fundamentally changed. North Korea has officially declared, both domestically and internationally, that it recognizes the South as a separate state and has abandoned its theory of federal reunification.

This has undermined the very premise of the National Security Act. Nevertheless, the first trial court has unjustly detained Research Fellow Lee based on the outdated standard of the National Security Act. We express our deep outrage and earnestly petition for his immediate release.

Since the martial law declaration by President Yoon Suk-yeol in 2024, the world has been watching how South Korean civil society is striving to protect democracy.

Historically, National Security Act in Korea has been used merely as a means to violently suppress political opposition and maintain power. Its essence lies in the repression of conscience and freedom of expression.

International human rights law limits restrictions on freedom of expression to situations where the speech in question poses a clear and present danger of specific, imminent violence or harm.

Source: Global Research