The Supreme Court on Thursday declared a 1974 emergency decree proclaimed by the military government of Park Chung-hee as unconstitutional because it excessively violated people's basic rights, in a landmark ruling that acquitted a Seoul man of criminal charges filed for criticizing the government decades ago.
Park, who ruled the nation from 1961-1979 after seizing power in a military coup, declared a national emergency in October 1972 before
dissolving the National Assembly, suspending the constitution and bringing in the so-called "Revitalizing Reform," better known as "October Yushin." He proclaimed a series of presidential emergency decrees, including one in 1974, which empowered him to take extraordinary measures in time of national crisis and banned all activities opposing or slandering the Yushin Constitution as well as any press reports on those activities.
Oh Jong-sang, 69, was indicted in 1974 on charges of violating emergency measures and national security law for making critical remarks in public against the Park administration. He was convicted for the charges and served a three-year jail term. But in 2007, he applied for a retrial on the recommendation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a special committee established in 2005 to reinvestigate past atrocities.
In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court overturned earlier rulings and cleared Oh of all charges against him 36 years later, while nullifying all past rulings made in accordance with the 1974 emergency decree.
The emergency decree is "unconstitutional as it infringed upon people's basic right beyond its limitation" although it did not even meet necessary requirements to take into effect at the time, Chief Justice Lee Yong-hoon said.
Although it is the Constitutional Court's role to judge constitutionality of a law, the Supreme Court explained it ruled on the presidential decree because "it was not legislated according to the parliament's legitimate proceedings."