Welcome to BASE21

The fate of the National Security Law is once again on the national agenda which has remained so ever since its beginning. The failure to build a unified Korea immediately after the Second World War, the concurrent division of the Korean peninsular, the fragile government and unabated social unrests were among the circumstances which led to its enactment in 1948.

The National Security Law, amended a few times yet maintaining its basic structure, enables the government to take various measures against "anti-state activities." Anti-state organizations and related activities coming under this law mean in practice not only North Korea but other groups and individuals who are alleged to have sympathy with North Korea and socialist ideas. The application of the Law has been widely criticized as a facade to crush the democratic movements and thereby to strengthen the past authoritarian government regimes.

As the main target of the National Security Law has apparently been North Korea, the fundamental changes in the relations between North and South Korea in recent years shall be noted. These changes are brought among others by the end of the cold war and accelerated by the efforts to build peace in North-East Asia. Highlighted by the summit meeting last June, the resumed talks and the increasing exchanges at various levels between the North and the South have opened up an unprecedented possibility to put their relationship on a much more firm and stable footing, leading to national reunification. The principle of peaceful reunification based on national self-determination and coexistence becomes the ground rule of this new process. To put this principle into reality, it requires a rethinking of the fundamentals in support of the old regimes including the National Security Law. It is obvious that the new reality does not sit well with treating North Korea as an anti-state organization, the main pillar of the National Security Law.

The problems posed by the National Security Law do not stop here, however. The draconian power exercised by the government under the Law has made and still are making a number of victims of human rights violations. The adverse effect of the National Security Law on human rights has all too frequently been pointed out by the international community. The freedoms of speech, assembly and association are only a few human rights in constant danger of breach under the National Security Law. In its history of more than 50 years of abuses, the National Security Law permeates deep into our mentality, daily life, and virtually every aspect of the society.

The winds of change in the last bastion of the cold war and the reinforced efforts for peace and human rights all for the concept of 'State security' must be reformulated. The purpose of the State is nothing more than allowing human beings to live in peace and dignity. "Human security" shall be the reign of the day from now on. One step on this road is the abolition of the National Security Law.