South Korean authorities have detained a person over the charge of ‘benefiting the enemy.’ What exactly did Park Jeonggeun, who has been detained, do? He simply retweeted a tweet which read, “Long Live Kim Jong-II.’ According to Park, this was purely in jest of the North Korean leader and was a bit of sarcasm rather than praise. However, South Korean authorities have refused to accept that explanation, for now.
North Korea and South Korea are arch-rivals and naturally, South Korean authorities don’t really like it when someone praises a North Korean leader. But Park is affiliated with South Korean socialist party and this party often criticizes North Korean regime. Also, Paul is a political activist and a socialist. So it does make sense when Paul says that he wasn’t praising the late tyrant, on the contrary he retweeted it in sarcasm.
According to the laws of South Korea, Paul may face up to seven years in prison over this mere tweet. In addition to this tweet, Paul also tweeted a picture of a North Korean soldier. He replaced the smile of the soldier wit ha frown and his rifle with a bottle of whiskey.
According to Amnesty International, South Korean authorities have failed to understand sarcasm. The organization has accused the South Korean regime to limit free speech by lashing out on activists. According to an Amnesty official, “Imprisoning anyone for peaceful expression of their opinions violates international law, but in this case the charges against Park Jeonggeun are simply ludicrous and should be dropped immediately.”
Image courtesy geekgurl.
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