Court: "Cancellation of Daesam's Permit for North Korea Leaflet Distribution Unjust"

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] Keunsaem, whose corporate establishment was canceled for distributing leaflets to North Korea, filed a lawsuit claiming that the Ministry of Unification's disposition was unfair and won the case.

On the 1st, the Administrative Division 6 of the Seoul Administrative Court (Chief Judge Lee Ju-young) ruled in favor of the plaintiff in the lawsuit filed by Keunsaem against the Minister of Unification, demanding "the cancellation of the disposition to revoke the non-profit corporation establishment permit."

In July of last year, the Ministry of Unification canceled the corporate establishment permits of Keunsaem and the Free North Korea Movement Alliance, which distributed leaflets and goods to North Korea. These organizations are led by the brothers Park Sang-hak and Park Jung-oh, defectors from North Korea, and they distributed leaflets and rice-filled PET bottles to North Korea.

Subsequently, the Ministry of Unification canceled the establishment, stating that the act of distributing leaflets or goods to North Korea deviates from the founding purpose of the defector organizations and threatens the lives and safety of residents in border areas.

However, the Administrative Division 5 of the court (Chief Judge Jeong Sang-gyu) ruled the day before in an administrative lawsuit filed by the Free North Korea Movement Alliance that the Ministry of Unification's disposition was justified and ruled against the plaintiff. The court stated, "The distribution of leaflets to North Korea is not directly related to the corporation's business purpose and appears to exceed the scope of the corporation's establishment purpose," and judged that "it also goes against the public interest of safety in the border area."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.