Two middle school teachers who allegedly posted pro-North Korean propaganda on Web sites have been arrested, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said yesterday, for violating the National Security Law. The teachers, whom police did not identify, allegedly posted North Korean photos and captions reading, for example, “Long Live the Great Victory of the Military-First Politics.”  They are both members of the left-leaning Korean Teachers and Educational Workers’ Union [link to other OFK posts]. Both teachers have also served as the union’s director for the unification of the two Koreas.  [link to story]

Let’s try to analyze several issues without mixing them. 

First, what state action is justified against two teachers?  The report contains no suggestion that the teachers did anything other than post stoopid ideas on the Internet (quick! arrest Kos!).  If there was direct and undisclosed contact foreign agents arising to an agency relationship or a conspiracy, that’s a legitimate crime.  Maybe it’s there, but for now, all I see is the criminalization of speech here.

Second, should these teachers be fired?  I see no evidence that they were teaching their ideology to the kiddies, although we’ve certainly seen plenty of that (3 links) before, and it’s not going out on a long limb to say that these teachers were likely indoctrinating their students.  I would hope that the Education Ministry has some coherent standards for its curriculum, and that those standards are inconsistent with indoctrination in (as opposed to the balanced discussion of) Songun Politics.  Any balanced discussion, by the way, should begin with a discussion of its record of achievement.  If the teachers kept their opinions to themselves, or managed to remain within the standards, I don’t see the problem.  If they violated the standards, particularly in service to a hostile foreign government, then discipline is warranted.

Third, does this add further evidence that the KTU has been infiltrated by the North Koreans?  Presuming the accuracy of this report, yes.  The best answer to this problem is to expose the KTU to public criticism, and an alternative to the KTU is already forming as a result.  Another unresolved, question, however, is the KTU’s unexplained financial wealth (unexplained to me, anyway).  If the evidence ultimately suggests that the KTU is under substantial and extralegal influence from North Korea’s intelligence services, then the government may have no choice but to put the union into government receivership, as the Justice Department had to do with the Teamsters to free it of mob control.