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S. Korean talk show host arrested on pro-N.K. charges

January 13, 2015
Hwang Sun answers reporters' questions at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office in Seoul on Dec. 22, 2014, before filing a libel suit against President Park Geun-hye. Hwang accused Park of calling her pro-North Korean activist. (Yonhap)

Hwang Sun answers reporters’ questions at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office in Seoul on Dec. 22, 2014, before filing a libel suit against President Park Geun-hye. Hwang accused Park of calling her pro-North Korean activist. (Yonhap)

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.