The People's Revolutionary Party Incidents were legal cases in which the

South Korean government The government of South Korea () is the national government of the Republic of Korea, created by the Constitution of South Korea as the executive, legislative and judicial authority of the republic. The president acts as the head of state and ...

accused individuals of

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

or left inclinations according to the

Anti-communism Anti-communism is Political movement, political and Ideology, ideological opposition to communism, communist beliefs, groups, and individuals. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia, and it reached global ...

Law in 1965 (the First Incident) and National Security Law in 1975 (the Second Incident). On 23 January 2007 the District Court of Central Seoul found the defendants not guilty in regards to the accused violations of the Emergency Presidential Acts, National Security Act, preparation and conspiracy of

civil war A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

, and the

law.

The first incident

The first incident occurred on 14 August 1965. The

Korean Central Intelligence Agency The National Intelligence Service (NIS; ) is the chief intelligence agency of South Korea. The agency was officially established in 1961 as the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA; ), during the rule of general Park Chung Hee's military Sup ...

(KCIA) claimed Do Ye-jong (도예종, 都禮鐘), Yang Choon-woo (양춘우, 楊春遇), Park Hyun-chae (박현채) and ten other individuals organized the People's Revolutionary Party. According to the National Intelligence Service (successor to the KCIA in 1981), this was "an organization attempting to overthrow the

Republic of Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

according to North Korean programs" that "tried to recruit more people from various backgrounds to expand the party structure." Do, Yang and Park and other six were sentenced to six years

imprisonment Imprisonment or incarceration is the restraint of a person's liberty for any cause whatsoever, whether by authority of the government, or by a person acting without such authority. In the latter case it is considered " false imprisonment". Impri ...

, while the others were sentenced to a year of imprisonment and three years probation.

The second incident

The second incident, also known as the "Committee for Re-establishment of the People's Revolutionary Party (PRP) Incident" (in Korean: 인민혁명당 재건위원회 사건) in South Korea, took place on 9 April 1975. In December 1972, the

Park Chung-Hee Park Chung Hee (; ; November14, 1917October26, 1979) was a South Korean politician and army officer who served as the third president of South Korea from 1962 after he seized power in the May 16 coup of 1961 until Assassination of Park Chung ...

government launched the " Yushin-system": an anti-constitutional system in favor of Park's autocracy named after the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored Imperial House of Japan, imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Althoug ...

of Japan. Also, the abduction of

Kim Dae-jung Kim Dae-jung (, ; 6 January 192418 August 2009) was a South Korean politician, activist and statesman who served as the eighth president of South Korea from 1998 to 2003. Kim entered politics as a member of the new wing of the Democratic Pa ...

, a leading politician of the opposing party added to the anger of South Korean people caused by the Yushin system. From October 1973, demonstrations against the Park government gained strength. Meanwhile, on 3 April 1974, Park announced the existence of an extreme socialist group: the "People's Revolutionary Party", and prohibited all activities related to the party. As demonstrations increased against the Park dictatorship, the KCIA arrested 1024 individuals without warrant on 25 April 1974 under the National Security Law. 253 of them were imprisoned. On 9 April 1975, the Supreme Court of South Korea sentenced eight men to death. Only 18 hours after the announcement of the death penalty, the government executed the eight individuals:

Revision

In 2002, an investigatory commission found the charges pressed against those individuals were false. Confessions were obtained using methods such as torture and coercion. It is now widely evidenced that such a "People's Revolutionary Party" never existed in reality, and that it was fabricated by the KCIA. In January 2007 a Seoul court posthumously acquitted all eight victims of the incident. In August 2007 the Seoul Central District Court awarded compensation in excess of 63 billion won to the families of the victims.

References

{{Reflist 1965 in South Korea 1975 in South Korea Anti-communism in South Korea Far-right politics in South Korea Fourth Republic of Korea Political history of South Korea Korean Central Intelligence Agency

The first incident

The second incident

Revision

See also

References