SOUTH KOREA: SEOUL COURT ORDERS COMPENSATION FOR EXECUTED ACTIVISTS

a Seoul court ordered the South Korean government to pay almost US$26 million in compensation to families of eight pro-democracy activists executed on fabricated treason charges three decades ago. The eight were executed in April 1975, less than a day after the South Korean Supreme Court found them guilty of trying to rebuild the Inhyeokdang pro-Communist party. Their families had long asked that the case be reopened, saying that dictator Park Chung-hee had concocted the case to crack down on pro-democracy movements. In January, the Seoul court found the eight not guilty of conspiring to form an underground pro-communist group to overthrow the government.