A South Korean student studying at the Australian National...

A South Korean student studying at the Australian National University was so frightened to find himself in the same class with fellow students from communist North Korea that he went to his embassy to ask permission to speak to them. The South Korean embassy granted the student permission on the condition that he keep them informed of what was happening. South Korea's security law forbids contact with people from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (or North Korea). South Koreans can be arrested and executed for making unauthorised contact. A friend of the student said, "Before he received permission from the embassy his fear was of returning home and being arrested by intelligence officers at Seoul airport. He just panicked." In recent years, South Korea had modified the application of the security law in cases of contact between people from the South with the North, but the security law still has potency.