Unified Progressive Party lawmaker Lee Seok
Ki told Suwon
District Court yesterday that he has no links to North Korea, and that the May 10th
and 12th, 2013 meetings which culminated in a sedition charge
against him were anti-war in nature.
Lee’s comments came as prosecutors revealed
that they would seek a jail term of 20 years for the sitting member of the
South Korean National Assembly, as well as a further ten years suspension of
suffrage and prohibition from holding public office. All other defendants also face hefty jail sentences if convicted.
Lee told the court: “I have never had any
connection with North Korea as the court alleges, nor have I ever had any
intention of overthrowing the [South Korean] government by force.”
“Autonomy, democracy and unification are
not about sympathizing with the North,” he went on to assert. “Rather, they are
the very spirit of our constitution.”
Lee’s says that he “was
not saying ‘let’s prepare for war’” in the May 2013 meetings, as the recordings appear to suggest. Rather, he was
suggesting that those present should “‘make anti-war preparations’ to avoid
mutual destruction.”
“Like a
black hole, this ‘rebellion plot’ incident has absorbed NIS [National Intelligence Service] intervention in the
2012 election, Blue House responsibility [for it], and the battle over the NLL
summit transcript,” he went on. “This offers circumstantial evidence that this is a political
fabrication by the NIS.”
The court is due to pass judgement on February 17th.
