It only makes sense that with a left wing government in power these former convicted spies would seek to have their records purged:
Seven leaders of a now-disbanded left wing party filed for a retrial of a North Korea-affiliated treason case that rattled the nation six years ago, Wednesday, claiming the ruling was rigged by misleading evidence and corrupt ties between the judiciary and the former administration.
Korea Times via a reader tip
Lawyers for former lawmaker Lee Seok-ki and six other former members of the United Progressive Party (UPP) submitted the application for the retrial to the Seoul Central District Court.
The seven were arrested in 2013 on charges of plotting a pro-North Korean rebellion, and were sentenced to jail terms of two to nine years in August 2014 for “inciting” an armed rebellion during two gatherings with dozens of followers in May. Later that year, the Constitutional Court ruled to disband the UPP, saying the small leftist party with five parliamentary seats was a risk to national security due to its “violent” communist motives.
You can read much more at the link.
I always suspected that the claims the NIS made of the spy ring plotting to overthrow the government were exaggerated. However, this does not explain why Lee Seok-ki was requesting classified documents and then leaking them in an effort to harm the US-ROK alliance. Why was Lee also trying to get his hands on US-ROK war plans? As I said before Lee and the UPP are just a political extension of the North Korean stooges in the Korean left that inhabit organization such as the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and the Korea Teacher’s Union.
These organizations have long been pro-North Korean and anti-US. That is why I said this whole UPP spy scandal is just a continuation of the Ilshimhoe Spy Scandal and not some new organization trying to overthrow the government. These groups coordinate with North Korea in order to cause political and social unrest within South Korea. That is why I said at the time that the UPP should not be banned in South Korea. By having the UPP all the pro-North Korean politicians all in one party and you know who they are.
