Progressive Party incident

Overview

The Progressive Party incident was a political case that began in January 1958, when the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency arrested leaders of the Progressive Party, and ended with the execution of Progressive Party chairman Cho Bong-am on July 31, 1959. The Committee for Clearing Up Past Affairs for Truth and Reconciliation ruled in 2007 that the case was political repression and a violation of human rights, and on January 20, 2011, the Supreme Court handed down an acquittal to Cho Bong-am in a retrial.

Background

Cho Bong-am emerged as Rhee Syngman's most formidable rival, receiving about 790,000 votes in the 1952 presidential election, the second in the nation's history, and about 2.16 million votes in the third presidential election on May 15, 1956. On November 10, 1956, he founded the Progressive Party together with Park Ki-chul, Kim Dal-ho, Yun Gil-jung and others, and expanded its local organizations under the slogans of "peaceful unification" and "an economy free from exploitation." Ahead of the National Assembly general election of May 2, 1958, the Rhee government was wary of the Progressive Party's entry into the legislature.

Progression

Arrest and indictment

On January 12, 1958, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency arrested party leaders including Yun Gil-jung, Kim Dal-ho, Cho Kyu-hee and Lee Dong-hwa, and on January 14 it arrested Cho Bong-am on charges of violating the National Security Act. On February 16, prosecutors indicted the party leaders, arguing that the Progressive Party's peaceful unification theory denied the existence of the Republic of Korea and was consistent with North Korea's claims. Cho Bong-am was also charged with espionage, including making contact with spies infiltrated from the North. On February 20, the Army Special Forces Command announced the "Yang Yi-seop incident," alleging that Yang Yi-seop (also known as Yang Myeong-san), a trader engaged in trade with North Korea, had delivered operating funds from North Korea to Cho Bong-am. On February 25, the Office of Public Information cancelled the Progressive Party's registration as a political party.

First trial

The Seoul District Court (presiding judge Yu Byeong-jin) held hearings from March 13 to July 2 and found that the espionage contact charges brought by the police were not true. However, on the basis of monetary dealings with Yang Yi-seop, it sentenced Cho Bong-am and Yang Yi-seop to five years in prison for violating the National Security Act, and acquitted the other party leaders. It also did not accept the allegation that the peaceful unification theory violated the constitution. After the verdict, a group claiming to be anti-communist youth rushed to the courthouse and caused a disturbance denouncing the judges.

Appeal and final appeal

At the appellate trial before the Seoul High Court (September 4 to October 25), Yang Yi-seop retracted his statements, claiming that his confession had been false, made under coercion and threats by the Special Forces Command. The court, however, did not accept this, and sentenced Cho Bong-am and Yang Yi-seop to death and also handed down guilty verdicts to the other party leaders. On February 27, 1959, the Supreme Court confirmed Cho Bong-am's death sentence and acquitted the other party leaders on the same grounds as the first trial.