Prosecutors seek jail time for man who hoisted the "Hinomaru" after writing "Dokdo is Japanese territory" on national flag = Korea

Prosecutors demanded a prison sentence for a man in his 30s who sneaked into a junior high school late at night and set the Taegeukgi (South Korean flag) on the platform on fire and hoisted the Rising Sun flag (Japanese flag).

At the conclusion of the case held by Incheon District Court Criminal 17 Lee Joo Young on May 11th, Defendant A (36), who was indicted on suspicion of desecrating the national flag, was sentenced to 1 prison term.

At the closing argument, Defendant A's lawyer said, "The defendant acknowledged all the facts of the crime and is deeply remorseful."

They continued, "The defendant thought that freedom of expression was allowed because the national flag was damaged frequently during demonstrations," and added, "After the crime, we knew that this part would be a problem. We are reflecting on it."

In his final statement, Defendant A said, "If I committed a crime this time, I will definitely be arrested, and I realized that there are no secrets in the world."

Defendant A broke into a middle school in Gyeyang-gu, Incheon at around 1:24 a.m. on August 29th, 2018, lowered the Korean flag from the flag platform, and wrote "Dokdo is Japanese territory' with a red pen. He was indicted at home on the charge of burning part of the Korean flag after scribbling 'Yoo Gwansun XXX (slang)' on it. At the time of the offence, it was the 'Gung Inu National Shame Day' (29 August 1910 Gung Inu year) when Korea lost its national rights to Japanese imperialism, and defendant A took down the Taegeuk flag on the hoisting platform at the time and hoisted the Japanese flag in its place.