The NSL is a copy of the ill-famed "Maintenance of the Public Order Act" enacted by the Japanese imperialists for the purpose of cracking down on the activists for independence, the article said.

The successive conservative regimes have maintained their power and brutally suppressed the progressive forces on the strength of the NSL, it noted.

The NSL which should have been already abolished became more draconic under the Lee Myung Bak regime and has been used for cracking down on reunification patriots and progressive organizations, it charged.

It called for abolishing the NSL which chills the desire of the fellow countrymen for reunification and fosters antagonism, jealousy, confrontation and distrust, and realizing the democratization of south Korean society.