Amnesty International demanded South Korean authorities drop charges against a man for submitting a poem to a North Korean writing competition praising the DPRK regime.  

The Seoul Central District Court sentenced 68-year-old Lee Yun-seop to 14 months in jail on Monday for violating the country’s National Security Act after he won a contest held by the North Korean propaganda outlet Uriminzokkiri in 2016.

“Writing a poem does not pose a threat to security,” Amnesty International’s East Asia Researcher Boram Jang argued in a press release published the same day. 

According to the nongovernmental organization, Seoul’s National Security Act has “repeatedly