SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea’s Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a nine-year prison sentence for a former lawmaker who was convicted of encouraging followers to take up arms to overthrow the government in the event of war with North Korea.
Lee Seok-ki, whose small, leftist United Progressive Party was disbanded by a court last month, was arrested in 2013 on charges including treason. It was the first time such a charge had been brought against a South Korean legislator since the country emerged from military dictatorship decades ago.
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Mr. Lee’s United Progressive Party was disbanded in December by order of the Constitutional Court, which also stripped Mr. Lee and the party’s four other lawmakers of their seats in Parliament.
