- California Assembly OKs highest minimum wage in nation
- S. Korea unveils first graphic cigarette warnings
- US joins with South Korea, Japan in bid to deter North Korea
- LPGA golfer Chun In-gee finally back in action
- S. Korea won’t be top seed in final World Cup qualification round
- US men’s soccer misses 2nd straight Olympics
- US back on track in qualifying with 4-0 win over Guatemala
- High-intensity workout injuries spawn cottage industry
- CDC expands range of Zika mosquitoes into parts of Northeast
- Who knew? ‘The Walking Dead’ is helping families connect
S. Korean talk show host arrested on pro-N.K. charges
SEOUL (Yonhap) — A local court issued an arrest warrant Wednesday for a South Korean woman who allegedly praised North Korea at talk shows she hosted last year.
Police and prosecutors had asked the Seoul Central District Court to allow the arrest of Hwang Sun, who local conservatives say endorsed former and incumbent North Korean leaders at on-stage talk shows held across South Korea from November to December.
The allegations, if proven true, would be in violation of the South’s National Security Law, which bans any activities meant to praise or propagandize North Korean ideals. Seoul remains technically at war with Pyongyang since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.
The 41-year-old is also suspected of making flattering remarks about North Korea on a YouTube channel and writing blog posts praising North Korean founder Kim Il-sung for an unidentified period.
“Had this been a normal situation, they wouldn’t have sought my arrest over a talk show I’ve been hosting for the past few years,” Hwang told reporters before entering the court for a hearing Tuesday.
Her Korean-American co-host Shin Eun-mi was deported Saturday over similar allegations. She is now banned from entering South Korea for the next five years.
Last week, Hwang sued an 18-year-old boy for attempted murder after he detonated a homemade bomb at a talk show in Iksan, 250 kilometers south of Seoul, last December.
The boy was later found to be a member of a right-wing online community called “Ilbe,” according to police. No one was hurt from the incident.