Seoul Court Convicts 34 Student Activists Over Trespass Incidents

A Seoul court convicted 34 student activists on Thursday over a series of trespass incidents involving a United States military installation and the former presidential compound in the capital between 2022 and 2024.

The Seoul Western District Court handed a senior leader of the Korean Progressive University Student Union a four-month prison sentence suspended for a period not specified in the report. Thirty-two other members were ordered to pay fines ranging from 1 million won to 6 million won, while one member received a deferred sentence involving a 1 million won fine. Two additional defendants were acquitted.

The cases centered on several protest actions carried out over roughly two years. The defendants were charged in connection with unauthorized entries into a US military facility in South Korea in August 2022 and March 2023, where they staged demonstrations opposing joint military exercises by South Korea and the United States.

The proceedings also covered attempts in January and October 2024 to enter the presidential compound in Seoul's Yongsan district without authorization. At the time, the activists were demanding the resignation of then President Yoon Suk Yeol and calling for a special counsel investigation into then first lady Kim Keon Hee.

In explaining its decision, the court found that the defendants had coordinated their actions beforehand rather than acting spontaneously. It cited preparations including the sharing of protest signs carrying identical slogans before entry into the military base. The court also pointed to a meeting at an office where participants discussed specific plans before attempting to enter the presidential compound.

The judges said the conduct could have created a national security risk because the presidential office was then situated in the same compound as the Ministry of National Defense. That location heightened the potential consequences of an unauthorized entry beyond those of an ordinary protest site.

The court acknowledged that freedom of expression and assembly are constitutionally protected fundamental rights. It nevertheless said those freedoms should be exercised within the boundaries of the legal order. The ruling distinguishes between the activists' right to voice political opposition and the methods they used to bring their demands into restricted government and military spaces.

The outcome leaves most defendants with financial penalties, while the senior organizer received the only suspended prison term reported in the case. The acquittal of two defendants also indicates that the court assessed individual responsibility rather than imposing a uniform judgment on everyone charged.