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The Korean government is joining in the international charade of ruling elites around the world, who are pushing for legislations that give unprecedented power to state intelligence and national security bodies while undermining human rights of the people.

Human rights groups, such as the Sarangbang for Human Rights (www.sarangbang.or.kr), on obtaining the proposals on the 'Terrorism Prevention Act', had already criticised the possibility of the government using the bill to repress any kind of expression against the government. Even the mainstream media have voiced concern. However, the National Intelligence Service(NIS) is going ahead with its plans. It is said that the Act has already received official approval from the President and awaits to be passed in the National Assembly. According to Ryu Eun-Sook of Sarangbang, "those laws related to peoples' lives are rotting inside the parliament, and yet the Terrorism Prevention Act is riding along a highway."

The NIS makes no pretense when it says it modelled the Act on the US's Patriot Bill, UK's Anti-Terrorism Act and other similar laws in imperialist countries. Activists are arguing that the definition of 'terrorism' is very vague, and thus can be manipulated to include any sort of opposition to the government. The Act is especially of concern in Korea, because it is basically a mere extension of the draconian National Security Law that still continues to drag workers, students and activists into jail. With the legislation of the Terrorism Prevention Act, the notorious NIS (Although the unit changed its name several times, it cannot escape from its long history of brutal torture and murder. It is ironic that one of its many victims sits as the President of Korea today, with a crippled leg as evidence.) will then have powers to use both laws.

Recently, human rights and social organisations formed an alliance to address and struggle against the legislation. Close to 70 organisations have joined the 'Common Struggle to Oppose the Terrorism Prevention Act of the NIS' and the alliance has begun definite action and resistance. Several activists gathered in front of the NIS headquarters on the 27th to protest. Family members of political prisoners who had been jailed by the National Security Law joined in, and the demonstrators argued that the Act will give NIS powers to arbitrarily identify a person or group as 'terrorists'. Demonstrators handed a letter of protest to the NIS, and will continue a one-person relay rally in front of the National Assembly from the 28th to campaign for parliament members to vote against the act. The Common Front is also preparing a petition to be handed to the Intelligence Committee of the National Assembly.

Defining 'terrorism' has always been a political dispute, with world powers attaining the hegemony to use the term to justify their own acts of terrorism. International bodies including the UN had already attempted to come up with a broad definition of 'terrorism' in the past, but in vain. At the 1987 UN General Assembly, the only countries that opposed the proposed strong resolution against terrorism was ironically the US and Isreal. They opposed precisely because their acts on other states and peoples at that time could very well be identified as being 'acts of terrorism' through a UN resolution. Thus what is important at this moment in time, is not coming up with a more 'limited' definition of 'terrorism', but the fact that the imperialists and the ruling elite around the world have taken on the definition of the term and are using it against the peoples of the world to attain their political, economic and social interests. This is exactly the issue at hand, with the series of legislations that have taken place just after the 9.11 tragedy. The ruling elites are not hiding the fact that they intend to include 'radicals' who oppose 'global capitalism' in their definition. This, without doubt, refers to the growing movement against neo-liberal globalisation. The economic and political agenda that the proponents of neo-liberalism are pushing for (such as was manifested during the WTO Doha Ministerial Meeting) are themselves attempts to undermine all the achievements that internationalist movement against globalisation have made over the last few years, and the series of 'Anti-Terrorism Bills' are wings for their neo-liberal agendas. It is important to view this Act in light of its relation to the government's political and economic objectives, and the Act must be resisted to the end.