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hundreds of which were put up on a street near Busan City Hall on Feb. 12. On the half-A4 poster is image of Park wearing a kimono

It was about 2:45 pm on Feb. 16, outside the office of the Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province branch of the Saenuri Party in Daegu. Byeon Hong-cheol, 46, scattered a few dozen leaflets containing criticism of President Park Geun-hye.

The leaflets accused Park’s administration of carrying out a witch hunt against people accused of being pro-North Korea and attacked the National Intelligence Service (NIS) for interfering in the 2012 presidential election.

A few minutes later, Byeon collected all the leaflets he had scattered and went home. “My original objective was not distributing the leaflets but rather doing something symbolic, a kind of performance,” he explained.

The next day, Feb. 17, Byeon got a call from the Suseong Police Department in Daegu. They wanted him to stop by the station, but Byeon refused.

On Feb. 24, the police sent Byeon an official summons to appear at the station. The previous day, two police officers had visited Byeon’s houses in the Suseong District of Daegu and in Cheongdo County, North Gyeongsang Province, to determine his whereabouts.

Officials at the Daegu Suseong Police Department explain that they are still reviewing their legal options, but they have yet to find something to charge Byeon with.

One possible charge would be defamation, but a suspect cannot be prosecuted for defamation if the victim expresses his or her opposition to the legal proceedings. The police are allowed to initiate an investigation and bring charges against the suspect even if the victim does not file a complaint. However, investigators generally do not take action without such a complaint.

Considering that President Park has not filed a complaint, the police would be reluctant to investigate Byeon on charges of defamation.

The police are also considering charging Byeon with inappropriate distribution of leaflets and other materials in a public place, which would be a misdemeanor, but this option presents its own problems. For one thing, Byeon distributed far too few leaflets; for another, he collected them all himself.

In Busan, the police are also facing criticism that they are bringing excessive legal charges against someone who distributed leaflets that parodied President Park. On Feb. 12, an individual named Yoon, 45, distributed around 8,000 leaflets while driving a motorcycle around the Yeonje District of Busan. The police are planning to charge Yoon with defamation, unauthorized distribution of leaflets, and violating the Automobile Management Act.

On Feb. 23, the Yeonje Police Department in Busan received a warrant from the court to search Yoon‘s house. After determining during the search that Yoon had illegally modified his motorcycle, the police decided to charge him with violating the Automobile Management Act.

traditional Japanese attire with the Sewol ferry sinking behind her. The leaflet also has text saying

“The police are hunting down any laws that will fit in an effort to throw the book at Yoon. Their actions are infringing on the rights of the individual and discouraging others from exercising their freedom of expression,” said Seo Chang-ho, a full-time activist with Human Rights Movement and Solidarity.

“Legally speaking, the police and prosecutors are allowed to investigate defamation, but they generally don’t start such an investigation without a complaint from the victim. In Yoon’s case, the police have broken with their standard practice and are bringing excessive charges against him,” said Choi Seong-ju, a lawyer with the Busan branch of MINBYUN-Lawyers for a Democratic Society.

On Dec. 26, 2014, around 10,000 leaflets that were critical of President Park were distributed around Hongik University Station in the Mapo District of Seoul.

In early January, Park Seong-su, 42, printed 4,000 leaflets criticizing the president and stuffed them in apartment mailboxes and handed around 3,500 of them out to people in the city of Gunsan, North Jeolla Province.

By Kim Il-woo and Kim Young-dong, Daegu and Busan correspondents

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