A Study on Article 17 of the Act on Counter-Terrorism for the Protection of Citizens and Public Security : Focusing on the Meaning of 'Incitement' and 'Recommendation' of Joining a Terrorist Organization
Authors:   The Korean Association for Terrorism Studies, Kim Bong-Soo 
Published: February 2025

The Supreme Court overturned the lower court's acquittal of Syrians accused of inciting membership of the extremist terrorist group Islamic State (IS). The Supreme Court decided to instigate a large number of people to join IS by posting posts such as praising the Islamic State (hereinafter referred to as “IS”) and its affiliated terrorist groups on its Internet Facebook account, and posting a link to a Telegram chat room where people who like IS can immediately have a 1:1 conversation with IS members after seeing the posts, and posting articles and videos praising the idea of IS, a terrorist group designated by the United Nations, on Facebook and posting links to directly talk to IS members of the Buddha statue. In the case of prosecution, the articles and videos posted by the accused are not only specific to the terrorist group IS, but also to promote and promote political goals or ideologies, as well as to protect and win IS or its members, and to strengthen their fighting spirit and unity, including certain anniversaries of IS. Moreover, the accused posted a Telegram link to the account under the name of Amaq Agency, a propaganda medium of IS, which posted the accused's writings and videos and the Telegram of the account under the name of the propaganda medium Although the act of linking is likely to be understood to encourage participation and participation in IS, a specific terrorist group, beyond mere support, praise, and sympathy for terrorism or terrorist group activities, it was judged that the lower court's judgment, which found the defendant not guilty of inciting the defendant to join a terrorist group, was guilty of misunderstanding of the law. It can be seen as a ruling suggesting that terrorism can occur in Korea. According to data from the National Intelligence Service in 2022, some Muslims staying in Korea are continuously increasing their activities to raise funds and sympathize with extremist cyber propaganda, and the government is strengthening its crackdown on cyber space propaganda activities by arresting and prosecuting five Russians and Central Asians who provided funds to terrorist groups, and forcibly evicting those suspected of following and funding terrorist groups. From 2023 to the present, the possibility of self-concealing terrorism, such as North Korea's filth balloons, cyber hacking, and key facility attacks, is constantly increasing. In particular, virtual asset exchange hacking to resolve financial difficulties caused by prolonged cyberattacks related to military provocations and slander against North Korea, terrorism targeting famous North Korean defectors and activists, and information acquisition and terrorism using drones and drones are constantly increasing. In the future, we must prepare countermeasures against North Korea's continuous terrorist attacks and, in particular, prepare for terrorist attacks by IS.
Accordingly, after hearing the case for more than five years, the Supreme Court reversed and returned the 'incitement to join a terrorist group'. Therefore, continuous research and analysis of precedents are needed in the future regarding the Anti-Terrorism Act for the Protection of the People and Public Safety (abbreviated as the Anti-Terrorism Act).