North Korea’s Workers Party Is Behind Hanchongnyon: Prosecution

KPS, 18 September 1996

Seoul, September 18 (KPS)—The Korean Federation of University Student Councils (Hanchongnyon) which staged violent demonstrations inside the Yonsei campus last month was found to have been virtually manipulated by North Korea’s ruling Workers Party, the Seoul prosecution authorities reported yesterday.

The prosecution announcement pointed out that Hanchongnyon was manipulated from behind by the Southern Headquarters of Pomchonghangnyon (Pan-National Alliance of Youth and Students for Unification) which is under the control of the North Korean Workers Party’s unification front department.

First deputy director of the Seoul District Prosecutors Office Kim Won-chi told the press that most of the leading members of Hanchongnyon were found to concurrently hold key positions in the Southern Headquarters of Pomchonghangnyon which is an organization benefitting the enemy. He also said that Hanchongnyon’s subsidiary organization, Chotongwi (The Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland) has been indicted as an organization that benefits the enemy, as it was found to have inherited exactly the same political line of Chondaehyop’s Chotongwi which was ruled as an enemy-benefiting organization by the Supreme Court in 1992.

Chondaehyop (National Council of Student Representatives) is the predecessor of Hanchongnyon.

An organization which benefits the enemy is liable to be punished under the National Security Law.

On the other hand, the Northern Headquarters of Pomchonghangnyon in Pyongyang was found to be directing the Southern Headquarters in Seoul to make such political demands as the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the South and national unification through confederation.

The chairman of the Northern Headquarters of Pomchonghangnyon, Ho Chang-jo, 40, belongs to the Choson Student Council, and the Choson Student Council Chief, Li Kum-chol, is a member of the North Korean Workers Party’s unification front department.

Meanwhile, the prosecution authorities said that a total of 438 students were indicted on charges of staging illegal demonstrations or for using fire bombs during demonstrations, while 38 of them were additionally charged with violations of the National Security Law.

Hanchongnyon Chairman Chung Myung-ki, 24, and 33 other key leaders are still in hiding.