A court in South Korea has given a 68-year-old man a 14-month prison term for saying good things about North Korea in a poem.
Lee Yoon-seop wrote an article in 2016 that was published in North Korea’s state media, where he supported bringing North and South Korea together. South Korean media have reported on this.
He said that if North and South Korea joined together with North Korea’s system, people would get free housing, healthcare, and education.
He was found guilty for breaking a law against saying positive things about North Korea in public.
In the article Means of Unification, Lee said that if Korea is united, fewer people will die by suicide or have debt.
The poem won a contest in the North in November 2016.
In 2013, he expressed his admiration for North Korea’s military on the internet; nevertheless, in the following years, he published anti-state remarks on blogs and websites in South Korea.
On Monday, a court in Seoul said that he kept spreading a lot of propaganda that praised North Korea, the Korea Herald reported.
In 2013, he wrote positive things about North Korea’s military on the internet. Later, he wrote negative things about the government on South Korean websites.
The National Security Act in South Korea makes it illegal to support or promote groups that are against the government.