[The Chosun Ilbo, January 17 2008] Newspaper Man Cleared 47 Years After Execution

A court on Wednesday exonerated a newspaper chief who was executed during the early 1960s on charges of siding with the North Korean regime. The Seoul Central Court cleared Cho Yong-soo, the head of the Minjok Ilbo, who was arrested by the military junta led by Gen. Park Chung-hee, later to become president, and accused of violating the special crime law in 1961.

The bench said the special crime law applied to key officials of political parties and social organizations. But the Minjok Ilbo was a profit-making organization, not a non-profit social body. Nor was there any evidence that he had sided with the communist state.