Group leader receives 4-month suspended sentence

32 members fined between 1 million and 6 million won

Court: 'Security risk cannot be taken lightly'

Members of the Korean University Students' Progressive Federation appear at a warrant review hearing after attempting to enter the presidential office compound. Jan. 9, 2024. [Yonhap]
Members of the Korean University Students' Progressive Federation appear at a warrant review hearing after attempting to enter the presidential office compound. Jan. 9, 2024. [Yonhap]

A leader of the Korean University Students' Progressive Federation, known by its Korean acronym Daejinyeon, received a suspended prison sentence after the group attempted to storm the presidential office compound in Yongsan in 2024, chanting slogans calling for a special prosecutor to investigate Kim Keon Hee and for the resignation of then-President Yoon Suk Yeol. The court ruled that even protests aimed at political expression do not justify unauthorized entry into key national security facilities or the blocking of public roads.

Judge Kim Min-jeong of the Seoul Western District Court's Criminal Division 6 presided over sentencing Thursday afternoon for 36 Daejinyeon members indicted on charges including joint residential trespass under the Act on Punishment of Violent Acts and obstruction of traffic.

The court sentenced a Daejinyeon leader identified only by the surname Gu to four months in prison, suspended for one year. He had broken into the Ministry of National Defense compound — where the presidential office is located — on two separate occasions and verbally abused police officers during questioning.

The 32 other co-indicted members each received fines ranging from 1 million to 6 million won ($4,530). Some defendants were acquitted or had their sentencing deferred.

"Freedom of expression and the right to assembly and protest are guaranteed as fundamental rights of citizens, but it is desirable that they be exercised within the bounds of the law," the court said in explaining its sentencing. "Trespassing onto the Defense Ministry compound, where the presidential office is situated, undermines the security order maintained to protect the president and safeguard key national facilities, and can pose a risk to national security — the culpability is not light."

Daejinyeon is a pro-North Korea, anti-US student organization founded in 2018. It has held rallies and demonstrations calling for North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to make a return visit to Seoul and opposing joint South Korea-US military exercises.

On Jan. 6, 2024, members pushed through a barricade at the western gate of the Defense Ministry compound near the presidential office, entered without authorization and chanted slogans while holding up banners they had prepared in advance.

On Oct. 4 of the same year, members ran through the compound's rear gate toward the presidential office, again chanting slogans.

Some members also trespassed onto facilities managed by USFK or blocked roads during anti-joint-exercise protests in 2022 and 2023, obstructing the movement of military vehicles and other traffic.


kido@heraldcorp.com