About three months after former Rep. Lee Seok-gi’s arrest, the Unified Progressive Party still awaits a Constitutional Court decision as to whether they will be banned.

The South Korean ex-National Assembly member – the assembly as a whole stripped him of membership in September – was convicted of conspiring with North Korea to lead an armed insurrection in the event of war. Now, the government is seeking to disband the nation’s third largest party – albeit one holding just a few seats in the assembly.

At the heart of this case is the National Security Law. Literally as old as