The Constitutional Court of Korea has declared the ban on sending leaflets to North Korea as unconstitutional. This comes after the Supreme Court ruled in April that anti-North Korea leaflets had a positive effect in providing information to those living in the North about their reality.
The Development of Inter-Korean Relations Act, which made it illegal to send leaflets to the North, stipulated that offenders could face up to three years in prison or a fine of 30 million won.
The Kim Jong-un regime has cut off North Koreans from the outside world, making it difficult to understand why the legislation was implemented to punish citizens for informing North Koreans of their human rights situation. Freedom of expression is a basic constitutional right and a pillar of democracy, yet the Moon administration passed a law which put South Koreans in jail, in response to North Korea’s demands.
Seven of nine Constitutional Court justices ruled the ban unconstitutional, claiming it allowed the state to exercise too much power to punish the people and was too restrictive on political expression. The law was passed in the National Assembly on December 14th, 2020, and five days later, it was promulgated.
In response, Fighters for a Free North Korea and 27 other human rights groups filed a petition with the Constitutional Court to challenge the ban. Kim Yo-jong, the younger sister of Kim Jong-un, asked the South to make a law to block the leaflets, and the Moon administration replied in just four hours.
The Supreme Court reversed the lower court’s decision that it was valid to cancel the permission of Fighters for a Free North Korea to send leaflets to North Korea. The ruling stated that it was hard to say the leaflets caused a serious danger to people’s lives and that they served a role in informing North Koreans of their human rights situation and the outside world.
The Constitutional Court has now ruled against the law, confirming that it was unreasonable and unconstitutional. It is a relief that the ban was ruled unconstitutional and thrown out, although it took nearly three years for the decision to be made. Wrong cannot last long.