최근 국가보안법 남용사례와 형사법적 대응

Abstract

This article deals with a particular case on the violation of Article 7 of the National Security Law. The defendant is a high school teacher. He is charged with an act benefiting the enemy, spreading information on the Internet and showing some data of a high school history textbook which he made himself for education. Perhaps the number of these activists, including teachers, will be up to hundreds of thousands in Korea. It is an obvious abuse of power in that the prosecution spots a specific person and only charges her/him alone for violating the Nation Security Law. In this article, the point of my argument is on how to block the tyranny of public security organs, which produce and mange these cases. Of course, the abolition of the National Security Law itself, or Article 7, is the surest way, but it seems impossible right now in Korea. In such a situation, the most effective way to check it is by the role of the courts. The courts have a constitutional obligation to block the tyranny of public security organs(police, prosecution, ect). However, our practical experience makes it clear that we can’t leave such a role to Supreme Court and Constitutional Court. Eventually, the answer can be found in the role of young judges who still have justice and in the lower court’s conscience. A more elaborate example is using “The Theory of the Abuse of Prosecutorial Power” in the Criminal Procedure, which we had studied hard in college of law. Currently, the only solution to overcome the reality, in which the police, prosecution, court, and other institutions are wasting manpower and budget, is to make the best use of the Theory.