Uri Party Decides to Abolish National Security Law

The Uri Party held a general meeting on September 9 and resolved its party opinion on the controversial issue to abolish the National Security Law. The Uri Party also decided to review possibilities of revising the criminal law or establishing a supplementary law as a special law to compensate for the blind spots in security caused by the abolishment.

Uri Party Floor Leader Chon Jung-bae said in a briefing right after the meeting, “Our party decided to abolish the law considering the anti-democratic and non-humanitarian characteristics of the law,” adding, “However, we are also devising plans to compensate the concerns regarding the security vacancy that may be caused by the abolishment at the same time.”

At the general meeting, Rep. Woo Yun-geun introduced a supplement to the criminal law, and Rep. Choi Jae-chon prepared a separate legislative bill called, “Interdiction Law on Destructive Activities.” The party, however, was not able to reach a conclusion on which option to take at the meeting.

The Uri Party decided to establish a task force team within the party to adopt either the supplementary criminal law or the special legislation before Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving Day). It intends to cover both the abolition of the National Security Law and the supplementary laws during the same regular National Assembly session.

Young-Chan Yoon yyc11@donga.com