Journalist acquitted for following DPRK on Twitter

A court in the Republic of Korea said in a statement on Thursday that it had acquitted a ROK citizen of sympathizing with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea for following its Twitter account. It said that simply reading Pyongyang's social media posts did not violate the security laws of the country.

Seoul prosecutors earlier charged the 73-year-old journalist, identified only by his surname Lee, with "distributing" materials that praised Pyongyang by following its official Twitter account, @uriminzok.

Lee was, however, found guilty of supporting the DPRK in his own blog postings and was sentenced to a one-year jail term, suspended for two years.

ROK's National Security Laws, enacted in 1948 to protect the fledgling state from influence by the DPRK, ban its citizens from praising or sympathizing with Pyongyang.

Domestic critics and international rights groups argue that the law is open to abuse and stifles free speech, but officials insist it is justified by the continued threat from the DPRK.

The Seoul Western District Court ruled that, because Lee only followed Pyongyang on Twitter and did not retweet or mention any of the posts on his own account, he had not broken the law.

"It can't be said that he 'distributed' those posts as they were only shown on Lee's own account and were not shown to other people, such as Lee's followers," the court said in a statement.

The DPRK joined the global social media networks in 2010 and has posted more than 17,500 tweets since then, mostly criticizing its major foes - the ROK and the United States - and praising its government.

Its Twitter account has more than 18,500 followers.