Unified Progressive Party Rep. Lee Seok-ki was indicted on Thursday on charges of planning a revolt.

Lee was arrested Sept. 4 on suspicions of plotting a rebellion through the Revolutionary Organization or RO, the underground antigovernment organization Lee allegedly established within the UPP.

“Like the People’s Democratic Revolutionary Party, the RO participated in the North’s revolutionary movement against the South. (RO) aimed to destroy liberal democracy with violence and prepared for the decisive moment,” Kim Soo-nam, a chief prosecutor of the Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office, said. The “decisive moment” refers to the outbreak of war, which according to the investigators Lee judged to be imminent. The People’s Democratic Revolutionary Party was a pro-North Korean organization that operated during the 1990s of which Lee was a key member. For his involvement in the organization, Lee was found guilty of espionage but he was pardoned in 2003.

Kim also said that Lee considered the National Assembly as the bridgehead for his socialist revolution, and used his position as a UPP lawmaker to gain access to military information including those regarding the U.S. Forces Korea.

According to Kim while Lee and three others indicted in connection to the case have refused to cooperate, the investigators have secured sufficient evidence to prove the charges.

Along with Lee, Hong Soon-seok, Han Dong-geun and Lee Sang-ho ― respectively the UPP’s Gyeonggi Province branch chief, chief of the party’s Suwon office and an adviser at a progressive group based in Gyeonggi Province ― were indicted on the same charges on Wednesday.

“It was a systematic and collective attempt to overthrow democracy that represented grievous threat (to South Korea.),” Kim said, adding that RO members had researched methods for manufacturing bombs and firearms.

With Lee being indicted, the ruling Saenuri Party is likely to press the minor opposition with renewed momentum.

“Now it’s time to process the motion to expel Lee from the National Assembly,” Rep. Shim Jae-chul said on Thursday. He added that removing pro-North Korean elements from the parliament was a “directive from the people,” and that the main opposition Democratic Party should cooperate in processing the motion as a means to make restitution for its part in helping Lee gain his parliamentary seat.

During last year’s general elections, the DP formed a pan-progressive alliance, which is considered to have been critical in the UPP lawmaker’s selection as a proportional representative. 


By Choi He-suk
(cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)