Han Dong-hoon says advisory council hired lecturer convicted under National Security Act for youth program

The Advisory Council on Democratic and Peaceful Unification, a constitutional body under the president, recruited as a lecturer for its youth education program a former official who had lost his post after being convicted under the National Security Act. The lecturer's presentation materials included a proposal to refer to North Korea as the "Democratic People's Republic of Korea" and content questioning the necessity of the South Korea-US alliance.

According to documents Han Dong-hoon, an independent lawmaker on the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, obtained from the council's secretariat, Kim Chang-hyeon, the former district mayor of Ulsan's Dong-gu, participated as a lecturer in the council's "2026 Korean Peninsula Peace School" program held this year.

The Korean Peninsula Peace School is an education program organized by the council's youth committee project team and ran from June through this month across eight regions nationwide.

Kim was elected Dong-gu district mayor in 1998 as an independent, running as a labor candidate backed by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU). The Supreme Court subsequently convicted him on charges of violating the National Security Act in connection with the so-called "Yeongnam Committee" case, and he lost his post the following year.

Lecture materials from August that Han obtained included content stating that North Korea should be shown "respect first" and referred to as the "Democratic People's Republic of Korea."

The materials also contained arguments that the South Korea-US alliance is not "the only path," along with content suggesting the National Security Act should be revised.

Han said he had requested from the council details on the composition of its lecturers, payments made to them, and budget expenditures, but had yet to receive the relevant documents.

"The Advisory Council on Democratic and Peaceful Unification, a constitutional body funded by taxpayers, gathered young people and taught them to abolish the National Security Act and halt joint South Korea-US military exercises — and placed on that podium a person who lost his district mayor post for violating the National Security Act," Han said. "The council is a constitutional body that advises the president on unification policy, not an ideological education center for a particular political camp."