The Yoon Suk-yeol government is carrying out public security repression of the People’s Democratic forces, including People’s Democracy Party (PDP) and Institute for People’s Constitution which belongs to the IADL and COLAP. In the morning of August 30, at around 7 a.m., the National Security Investigation Division of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency raided the offices and the houses of the PDP representatives and the party concerned, alleging violations of Article 7 (Sections 1, 3, and 5) of the National Security Act (NSA). During the search, the police unlawfully detained party members not named in the warrant, damaged property, and committed illegal, violent, and inhumane acts. To manipulate the case, the Yoon government forced a connection between the PDP and the Korean Alliance for Independence, Reunification and Democracy (Korean Alliance), a victim organization under the NSA targeted by the Park Geun-hye fascist regime in 2014. The reason for linking the PDP with the Korean Alliance, which disbanded in July 2016 and no longer exists, and whose organizational purpose and composition are fundamentally different, is glaringly obvious. The Yoon government is committing an unconstitutional act denouncing the PDP which is the constitutional political party as one that “benefits the enemy”, unconstitutionally using the NSA that is the unjust law.

The need to abolish the NSA and dismantle the fascist repressive apparatus has been reaffirmed. The NSA’s Article 7 (Praise, Incitement, etc.) is infamous for violating the constitutionally guaranteed freedoms of thought and expression. The National Human Rights Commission of Korea has judged the NSA to be seriously problematic from the perspectives of international law, constitution, and human rights since 2004, and the UN Human Rights Council has repeatedly called for its abolition since 1992, citing its infringement of “the right to freedom of association” as outlined in International Covenants on Civil and Political Rights. The Security Investigation Department, which conducted the search and seizure on the PDP, is a successor of the infamous Security Investigation Unit known for investigating violence and torture, a part of the “counterintelligence” department of National Police Agency. President Yoon had mentioned “anti-state organization” on the 29th, the day before the crackdown. The public security authorities used the NSA and the Security Investigation Division to accuse the PDP of being an “anti- state organization,” which is not in violation of the law, proving the unconstitutionality and illegality of the NSA and the Security Investigation Division.