Meanwhile, they expelled Sin Un Mi, Korean professor in the U.S., from south Korea on Jan. 8 after questioning her on a charge that she praised the north at an event held in November last year for giving her impressions of the DPRK with Hwang Son attending. They went the lengths of investigating a female lawmaker from the Democratic Alliance for New Politics, finding fault with a few words said by her to greet Sin at the event.

Rodong Sinmun Monday says in a commentary in this regard:

These facts prove that south Korea is a dictatorial society.

What Hwang and Sin said can never be a crime but they deserve praise as members of the Korean nation.

The south Korean authorities are claiming they violated the "Security Law" but this only proves the urgent need to repeal this anti-reunification law. The south Korean ruling forces' frantic racket for "eliminating the followers of the north" targeted against the progressive pro-democracy figures is throwing a wet blanket over the climate of mending the north-south relations as it is a clear manifestation of their unconditional repugnancy and bad blood towards the fellow countrymen in the north.

If the south Korean authorities label those personages devoting themselves to peace and the reunification of the country as "those following the north" and mercilessly crack down on them as now like a "witch hunt", the distrust and confrontation between the north and the south can never be defused.

They should halt their fascist crackdown upon the progressive pro-democracy forces through the racket for eliminating "followers of the north" and respond to the efforts of the fellow countrymen for achieving independent reunification through the improvement of the north-south relations.