Supreme Court Confirms 1 Million Won Fine for Daejinyeon over 'Rising Sun Flag Burning Ceremony'

Three members of the Korean University Students Progressive Union (Daejin-yeon) who burned the Rising Sun Flag near the Embassy of Japan in Korea were sentenced to fines.

On the 17th, the Supreme Court's 3rd Division (Presiding Justice No Jeong-hee) upheld the original verdict sentencing three Daejin-yeon members, including member A, who were charged with violating the Assembly and Demonstration Act, to fines of 1 million won each.

Supreme Court, Seocho-gu, Seoul

They were charged with holding an unreported assembly near the Embassy of Japan in Jongno-gu, Seoul, around 3 p.m. on June 1, 2021, where they chanted slogans such as "We condemn the Japanese government for claiming Dokdo as Japanese territory" and burned the Rising Sun Flag. The police arrested them on the spot as flagrante delicto.

In court, they denied the charges, arguing that their actions did not legally constitute an assembly. However, the lower courts in the first and second trials ruled them guilty, stating that "an assembly is defined as two or more people forming a joint opinion and gathering temporarily at a certain place to express it externally," and sentenced them to fines of 1 million won each.

They appealed the verdict, but the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal, finding no error in the lower court's ruling.

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