by REERA YOO | @reeraboo
editor@charactermedia.com
A Korean American writer faces another round of questioning over allegations that she made pro-North Korea remarks during a series of on-stage talk shows, according to Yonhap News Agency.
Shin Eun-mi, 53, has recently been under fire for making sympathetic comments toward Pyongyang and praising the North’s communist regime. After she was given a 10-day travel ban, Shin was questioned on Sunday by the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency (SMPA) for seven hours after conservative groups and North Korean defectors accused Shin and her co-host, Hwang Sun, of violating the National Security Law, which prohibits encouraging North Korea’s political ideals.
The writer is also under scrutiny for her memoir titled, Korean-American Ajumma Goes to North Korea, which chronicles three of her six secret visits to North Korea. While her book positively portrays the daily lives of North Koreans, Shin has told reporters that she has “never glorified or encouraged North Korea.”
The SMPA is currently considering charging her for violating South Korea’s immigration control law, which bars tourists from participating in any for-profit activities. According to investigators, Shin was visiting South Korea under a tourist visa.
Earlier today, President Park Geun-hye voiced her concerns over Shin’s alleged pro-North talk shows.
“It has become a problem as certain people who have made several visits to the North have closed their eyes to the appalling living conditions of the North Korean people or the human rights violations and distorted and exaggerated their certain biased experiences as if they are the real state of affairs in the North,” Park said to her senior secretaries during a meeting, according to Yonhap.
