Seventy South Korean soldiers and military officers were found belatedly yesterday to have had memberships in a pro-Pyongyang Web site that Seoul authorities closed down last year.
Seven or eight of them are under investigation by military prosecutors for leaving remarks on the Web site, the Ministry of National Defense said.
“The Web site called ‘Cyber Command for National Defense’ was found out by the military prosecutors to have 70 military personnel including 26 officers as its members,” said ministry official.
The official said seven or eight of them, all low-ranked officers and soldiers, were found to have posted replies on the ‘allegiance pledge corner’ on the Web site and are under intensive investigation, focused on the nature of the remarks. The creator of the Web site, identified by his surname Hwang, 43, was given a suspended jail term in an appeals court in June last year for violating the national security law with the case currently pending in the Supreme Court.
The country’s national security law bans its citizens from making remarks praising North Korea in public places and in online spaces. The 1950-53 Korean War ended in ceasefire, not in peace treaty, leaving two Koreas still at war against each other.
According to military sources, the 70 military personnel are 26 officers - including one colonel, five lieutenant colonels and five majors - nine master sergeants and 35 rank-and-file soldiers.
The colonel registered on the Web site told military prosecutors that he joined as a member to study the pro-North activists’ logic and to develop logic to counter them, military sources said. One lieutenant colonel was known to have said that he had his identity stolen.
Some local papers reported that those under investigation have pledged allegiance to North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and his son and heir-apparent Kim Jong-un, a claim that the ministry refused to confirm. “We are still investigating whether they are in violation of the national security law,” a military official said.
Source: joongangdaily