requirements of article 19, paragraph 3, of the Covenant". (para. 12.5) threaten public security, the protection of which would justify restriction within the terms of the Covenant as being necessary. According to the Committee, "there is no indication that the courts .... considered whether the contents of the speech [by the author] or the documents [distributed by him] had any additional effect upon the audience or readers such as to threaten public security" (para.12.4) and "the State party has not provided specific justifications as to why over and above prosecuting the author for contraventions of the Law on Assembly and Demonstration and the Law on Punishment of Violent Activities (which forms no part of the author's complaint), it was necessary for national security, also to prosecute the author for the exercise of his freedom of expression". (para. 12.5) 12.5 The Committee considers, therefore, that the State party has failed to specify the precise nature of the threat allegedly posed by the author's exercise of freedom of expression, and that the State party has not provided specific justifications as to why over and above prosecuting the author for contraventions of the Law on Assembly and Demonstration and the Law on Punishment of Violent Activities (which forms no part of the author's complaint), it was necessary for national security, also to prosecute the author for the exercise of his freedom of expression. The Committee considers therefore that the restriction of the author's right to freedom of expression was not compatible with the requirements of article 19, paragraph 3, of the Covenant. However, as noted by the State party, the author was "convicted for organizing illegal demonstrations and instigating acts of violence on several occasions during the period from January 1989 to May 1990. During these demonstrations ... participants "threw thousands of Molotov cocktails and rocks at police stations, and other government offices. They also set vehicles on fire and injured 134 policemen"." (para.4.2) In this connection the Committee itself "notes that the author was convicted for having read out and distributed printed material which expressed opinions ... coinciding with the policy statements of DPRK (North Korea), with which country the State party was formally in a state of war". (para. 12.4. See also the explanation of the State party in paras. 10.4 and 10.5) 13. The Human Rights Committee, acting under article 5, paragraph 4, of the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, finds that the facts before it disclose a violation of article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. 14. Under article 2 (3) (a) of the Covenant, the State party is under an obligation to provide the author with an effective remedy. The author's counsel argues that "the author's conviction under the Law on Demonstration and Assembly and the Law on Punishment of Violent Activities is not the issue in this communication" and that "the author's conviction under those laws cannot justify his conviction under the National Security Law for his allegedly enemy-benefiting expressions". (para. 9.1) 15. Bearing in mind that, by becoming a State party to the Optional Protocol, the Republic of Korea has recognized the competence of the Committee to determine whether there has been a violation of the Covenant or not and that, pursuant to article 2 of the Covenant, the State party has undertaken to ensure to all individuals within its territory and subject to its jurisdiction the rights recognized in the Covenant and to provide an effective and enforceable remedy in case a violation has been established, the Committee wishes to receive from the State party, within ninety days, information about the measures taken to give effect to the Committee's Views. The State party is also requested to translate and publish the Committee's Views. Nevertheless, the author's reading out and distributing the printed material in question, for which he was convicted under these laws, were the very acts for which he was convicted under the National Security law and which lead to the breach of public order as described by the State party. In fact, counsel fails to refute that the author's reading out and distributing the printed material in question did lead to the breach of public order, which might have been perceived by the State party as threatening national security. I do share the concern of counsel that some provisions of the National Security Law are too broadly worded to prevent their abusive application and interpretation. Unfortunately, however, the fact remains that South Korea was invaded by North Korea in the 1950's and the East-West détente has not fully blossomed on the Korean Peninsula yet. In any event the Committee has no information to prove that the afore-mentioned acts of the author did not entail the breach of public order, and under article 19, paragraph 3, of the Covenant the protection of "public order" as well as the protection of "national security" are legitimate grounds to restrict the exercise of the right to freedom of expression. APPENDIX Individual opinion submitted by Mr. Nisuke Ando pursuant to rule 94, paragraph 3, of the Committee’s rules of procedure, concerning the Views of the Committee on communication No.574/1994, Keun-Tae Kim v. the Republic of Korea I am unable to agree with the Committee's Views in this case that "the restriction of the author's right to freedom of expression was not compatible with the 116

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