Cabinet approves petition calling for disbandment of leftist party

By Park Sae-jin Posted : November 5, 2013, 15:30 Updated : November 5, 2013, 15:30

The Cabinet Tuesday approved a justice ministry-initiated petition calling for the dissolution of the lefist Unified Progressive Party (UPP). 

The approval was made at a Cabinet meeting, which was presided over by Prime Minister Chung Hong-won. 

The move comes two months after some of the UPP’s members, including Rep. Lee Seok-ki, were arrested on charges of plotting to overthrow the government. 

"We concluded that the UPP's objectives and activities go against the free, democratic basic order stipulated by the Constitution,“ Minister of Justice Hwang Kyo-ahn said in a briefing at the Government Complex in Seoul, following the Cabinet meeting.

Hwang said the justice ministry will file the petition with the Constitutional Court as soon as it completes related procedures.

The UPP's disbandment is subject to approval by six of the nine Constitutional Court justices or more.

In early September, the National Assembly approved the government-initiated motion calling for the arrest of Rep. Lee. Of 289 lawmakers present, 258 cast ayes and 14 nays.

According to the motion, Lee of the Unified Progressive Party held a secret meeting with members of the Revolutionary Organization (RO) in May, during which he called for the destruction of communication facilities and railways in South Korea in the event of a war on the Korean Peninsula.

The two Koreas remain technically at war as the Korean War ended in an armistice agreement, not a peace treaty.

 

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