Exclusive: 5 members of student activist group referred to prosecutors over unlawful assembly near Supreme Court

Five members of the Korean University Students' Progressive Alliance have been referred to prosecutors on charges of holding an unregistered assembly in front of the Supreme Court. Although the event was framed as a press conference, police determined it was a rally in substance, as multiple members chanted slogans throughout.

The Seoul Seocho Police Station referred the five members to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office on Thursday on charges of violating the Assembly and Demonstration Act.

The members face charges of holding an unregistered assembly on June 13 in front of the main gate of the Supreme Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul, under the guise of a press conference.

The event was billed as a "student press conference to investigate and impeach Jo Hee-de, a career criminal who violated suffrage rights," but participants held banners and pickets bearing the same slogan and repeatedly chanted "Impeach him" at the scene.

Police said the gathering had not been registered as required. "Although it took the form of a press conference, we determined it had the character of an assembly and referred the case accordingly," a police official said.

This is not the first time members of the group have faced investigation or trial for unlawful conduct. In June 2021, three members were fined 1 million won ($746) after holding a similar unregistered assembly.

On that occasion, they were indicted on charges of holding an unregistered assembly near Dongsibjagak, across from the Japanese Embassy in Jongno-gu, Seoul, where they chanted slogans denouncing the Japanese government's claim to Dokdo and burned a Rising Sun flag.

The members denied the charges, arguing their actions did not legally constitute an assembly, but the court found them guilty, ruling that "two or more people gathering temporarily at a specific location with the shared purpose of forming and publicly expressing a common opinion constitutes an assembly."

Some members of the group were also indicted in August after unlawfully entering the US Forces Korea air base in Osan, and others are currently standing trial — at the appeals stage — over an attempt to break into the presidential office in Yongsan in 2024.