hankyoreh

Two people named as “Revolutionary Organization” (RO) members in a ruling disbanding the Unified Progressive Party (UPP) filed suit against eight justices on the Constitutional Court to claim damages, arguing that they did not participate in the RO.

The legal battle comes after ongoing criticisms against the court for getting basic facts wrong in what many have called a “patchwork judgment” in disbanding the UPP.

The two plaintiffs, Yoon Won-seok (president of the online newspaper Voice of the People) and Shin Chang-hyun (former head of the UPP‘s Incheon branch), filed suit in Seoul Central District Court on Jan. 26 against the state and eight of nine Constitutional Court judges (those who voted in favor of the disbandment), claiming 60 million won (US$55,600) in damages for “harm to our reputation from the inclusion of falsehoods in the ruling.”

“The Constitutional Court included falsehoods in its judgment that cannot be found anywhere in the ruling on the ‘insurrection conspiracy’ case [involving lawmaker Lee Seok-ki] or any other evidence, reference data, or opinions,” the plaintiffs wrote.

“As a result, we have experienced deep psychological distress from the fear that we could at any moment becomes targets of security organization investigations, and our family members have endured denunciations and suspicions from their acquaintances,” they continued.

The targets of the suit include eight of the nine justices who wrote the December majority decisions disbanding the UPP and stripping its lawmakers of their seats in the National Assembly: court president Park Han-chul, Lee Jung-mi, Lee Jin-sung, Kim Chang-jong, Ahn Chang-ho, Kang Il-won, Seo Ki-seog, and Cho Yong-ho. As chief judge, Lee Jung-mi wrote the section of the ruling listing Yoon and Shin as participants Revolutionary Organization meeting in Seoul’s Hapjeong neighborhood, sources said. Lone dissenting justice Kim Yi-su was not listed in the lawsuit.

In its ruling disbanding the UPP, the Constitutional Court wrote that Yoon and Shin had participated in an RO meeting in Hapjeong on May 12, 2013, where members alleged plotted an insurrection under the leadership of Lee Seok-ki. The event was used as key evidence in the court‘s decision to disband the party.

The inclusion of false details in the court’s ruling may have resulted from a lack of care in quoting investigation records and other materials supplied by the Ministry of Justice.

By Kim Seon-shik, staff reporter

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