The Intelligence Service and police authorities filed a suit against them last year after years of search, confiscation and investigation operations against them, charging that they had working contact with the North Side Committee.

The Pusan District Court sentenced them to penal servitude and detained them in February on charges of possessing "enemy-benefiting publications" and violating the "law on assembly and demonstration."

In the face of strong public protest, the court authorities could not but hold the trial on an appeal.

However, the court authorities found fault with the publications, talking about "enemy-benefiting nature." The court confirmed the ruling made at the first trial almost as it is, saying the South Side Committee is little different from the Pan-national Alliance for Korean's Reunification, an "enemy-benefiting organization."

In this regard the secretary general and former executive chairman declared that they would jointly counter the decision made by the court authorities. The decision suggests that all the activities of the organization have been regarded as "enemy-benefiting," they added.

The Pusan Headquarters of the South Side Committee and other civic and social organizations in Pusan branded the decision as a judicial terrorism against the inter-Korean declarations.