South Korea Shuts Down 'Pro-North' Leftist Party

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in central Seoul on Friday, as South Korea's Constitutional Court ruled 8-1 in favor of dissolving a controversial minor opposition party for its alleged pro-North Korea agenda -- setting what critics are viewing as a dangerous precedent.



It marks the end of the Unified Progressive Party (UPP) and creates five vacancies in the 300-seat National Assembly that are set to be filled in by-elections next year.



"The UPP, with a hidden agenda to adopt North Korea's socialism, organized meetings to discuss a rebellion. The act goes against the basic democratic order of the Constitution," chief justice Park Han-cheol said as he announced the court's decision live on television.



It is the first time that a political party has been outlawed in South Korea's history.



Last year, the country's justice ministry had petitioned for the disbandment of the UPP -- which had risen since its foundation in 2011 to become the National Assembly's third biggest party by seats.



A number of UPP members were convicted in 2013 of conspiring to overthrow the South Korean government in the event of the resumption of war with North Korea -- a peace treaty was never signed after the Korean War of 1950-53.



As a result of Friday's decision, the establishment of another "pro-North" party has been prohibited. South Korea's National Security Law already strictly controls behavior that is deemed to be in favor of Pyongyang.



While chief justice Park said the UPP had violated the "basic democratic order," opponents of the ruling used the same argument against the Constitutional Court.



"Today marks the demise of our democracy," UPP leader Lee Jung-hee told her supporters outside the court. She accused President Park Geun-hye of emulating the "dictatorial leadership" of her father Park Chung-hee, whose own rule lasted from 1961 until his assassination in 1979.



A nearby counter-protest led by conservative groups and Korean refugees called for the protection of society from pro-Pyongyang influences.



www.aa.com.tr/en - Seoul-t'ukpyolsi