[Joint Statement]
The Lee Jae-myung Government, Which Speaks of “Reform,” Must First and Foremost Abolish the Fascist National Security Law and Repressive State Institutions!
The truth about fascist repression is coming to light. According to the prosecution, the number of retrial cases involving public-security offenses such as violations of the National Security Law (NSL) and the Assembly and Demonstration Act filed with the Seoul High Prosecutors’ Office and the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office reached 137 in 2025, nearly six times the 23 cases recorded in 2023. Of the 107 cases in which retrials were initiated over the past three years, approximately 60 percent resulted in recommendations for acquittal or dismissal of charges. The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office further revealed that 85 percent of the 127.4 billion won in criminal compensation paid last year to defendants who were ultimately acquitted consisted of compensation related to historical retrial cases. Meanwhile, according to data from the Supreme Court, a total of 566 individuals (including duplicate counts across separate trials) were brought before courts of first instance on charges of violating the National Security Law between 2015 and June 2025. Of these, 43.6 percent were found not guilty. During the same period, 151 out of 453 defendants in appellate proceedings under the National Security Law were acquitted. As long as the fascist National Security Law remains in force, such anti-human-rights abuses and acts of repression will inevitably continue.
Fascist repression is being carried out against a legally recognized political party. Recently, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office sought arrest warrants against Han Myung-hee, President of the People’s Democracy Party (PDP), and Han Jun-hye, the party’s Secretary General, on charges of violating Article 7(3) of the National Security Law (forming or joining an anti-state organization) and Article 7(1) (praising, inciting, or propagandizing such an organization). The court rejected the warrants. During the proceedings, it became unmistakably clear that the authorities attempted to distort the PDP’s constitutionally lawful political program. The party’s line of people’s resistance was falsely portrayed as a “nationwide uprising,” while its advocacy of a “peaceful federal reunification formula” was misrepresented as “pro-North Koreanization,” all in an effort to label the party an “anti-state organization.” The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency and the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office presented surveillance and monitoring records as evidence and, despite already imposing travel bans on the two individuals, sought to justify detention by alleging “risk of flight” and “destruction of evidence,” thereby trampling even upon their right to defense. Furthermore, during the trial it was confirmed through the statements of the public-security authorities themselves that a most despicable and underhanded informant operation was being conducted against the People’s Democracy Party. The fact that such crude and malicious provocateur tactics—surpassing even those of the military-fascist era—have been shamelessly carried out under the Lee Jae-myung government, which claims to pursue “reform,” reveals the true nature of this administration. Now that the brazen deception of this so-called “reform government” has been thoroughly exposed, we can no longer refrain from launching a struggle against the fascistic policies of the Lee Jae-myung administration. We shall wage, to the very end and without yielding to any repression, a just anti-fascist struggle not only for the abolition of the National Security Law but also for the dismantling of the National Intelligence Service, the National Police Agency, and the prosecution service—the institutional instruments of fascist repression—until the day of final victory.
History shows that every government in “Republic of Korea (ROK)” has relied upon a system of fascist repression. Above all, a governing structure founded upon fascist laws, institutions, and organizations demonstrates the subordinate nature of “ROK”. The roots of the National Security Law lie in Japan’s Peace Preservation Law, and its enactment as an instrument for suppressing those who opposed the establishment of a separate government, demanded the withdrawal of US forces, and called for independent and peaceful reunification is inseparable from the continued stationing of US troops and the perpetuation of pro-American and traitorous governments. The National Security Law is a notorious fascist law that has violated the freedoms of thought, expression, and political activity of our people while fostering hostility toward Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), thereby entrenching the division system and seeking to perpetuate the presence of US forces indefinitely. By instilling fascist consciousness among the people and preserving fascist laws and institutions, colonial “ROK” has become, in the twenty-first century, one of the most anti-democratic states in the world where a fascist system of rule continues to exist. The fact that nowhere in Africa, Latin America, or Asia can one find a fascist law comparable to the National Security Law should be regarded as the greatest source of shame for the so-called “Lee Jae-myung reform government.”
The National Security Law must be abolished as a top priority, and US troops must be withdrawn. Lee Jae-myung, the nominal “President,” who remains a servant of imperialism and has failed to dismantle the fascist system, recently and unwisely aligned himself with the anti-DPRK, anti-China, and anti-Russia policies of the European imperialist powers through the joint statement issued at the “ROK”–EU summit. During this same period, the Lee government’s repressive institutions—the National Intelligence Service, the National Police Agency, and the prosecution service—simultaneously carried out an anachronistic campaign of fascist repression aimed at branding the People’s Democracy Party, an anti-insurrection party, as an “anti-state organization.” How can this possibly be a coincidence? At the crossroads of peace and war, independence and subjugation, there is no middle road. Democracy cannot exist alongside the anti-democratic and fascist National Security Law. The Lee Jae-myung Democratic Party government, which constantly speaks of “reform,” must cease its demagoguery and abolish this notorious fascist law as its first act. Our people will rise in a just popular resistance, dismantle every fascist institution through their own strength, overthrow US imperialism—the force standing behind fascism—and hasten the arrival of a new world of people’s democracy.
June 20, 2026
In front of the US Embassy, Seoul
Anti-US Struggle Headquarters
21st Century Che Guevara (Defense Brigade)
People’s Democracy Party
