Jo Jung-rae to avoid prosecution for Taebaek Sanmaek
Ohmynews tells that the prosecution is soon to make a decision not to press charges against the novelist Jo Jung-rae for breaking the national security law with his novel Taebaek Sanmaek. It's about bloody time I'd say; the issue has been hanging over Jo since 1994, when the adoptive son of the former president Syngman Rhee (or should I say Dr Syngman Rhee...) and eight organizations filed a complaint against Jo for libel and violation of the national security law. The prosecution has been dragging the case for more than ten years while millions have been buying and reading the 10-volume novel, and it's been included in the recommended reading list at also the Police Academy. But what took so long to do the complaint back in 1990s, when the book had been out for years and years? Did it take so long to read it? Or was it the news of Im Kwon-taek making it to a film? Jo Jung-rae shows leniency and understanding towards those who filed the complaint now that he's being relieved from the issue which must have been strenuous (but at least he's been able to write and publish a lot) (a Yonhap article via Hankyoreh); "Korean War and Vietnam War veterans (who were among the complainants) have personal scars and experiences, so I don't expect them to have objective views, and I've wanted to understand them." Update. So the source in the prosecutor tells (from Hankyoreh) that they have decided not to press charges against Jo Jung-rae, but the official announcement will be given after the parliamentary hearings of the chief prosecutor appointee, as the issue would become a point of debate in the hearings. Would it really? Would the GOP have the nerve to take it up? This is the history of the legal wrangling around Taebaek Sanmaek, from the above Hankyoreh link: 소설 <태백산맥> 국가보안법 위반 고발사건 일지 Categories at del.icio.us/hunjang: Koreanpolitics • literature/movies |
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