North Korea leader Kim Jong Un was the subject of praise in several comments posted online on a South Korean website. The defector who wrote the comments has been detained. File Photo by KCNA

SEOUL, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- A defector suspected of praising North Korea's ruling family has been arrested for violating South Korean law.

The defector, whose identity is being protected, may have posted 63 statements on the Internet praising the "three generations of Kims," Yonhap news agency reported on Thursday.


South Korea's Incheon District Public Prosecutor's Office said the 44-year-old man is being held on charges of praising the North Korean regime and inciting others to do the same.

South Korea's anti-communist National Security Law bans public expressions of pro-North Korean sentiment, and also applies to "any person who makes contact with a member of an anti-state organization or a person who has received an order from it."

The defector allegedly began posting messages on websites for the defector community in December 2009 and continued posting online until July 2016, according to the report.

The messages consisted of praise for North Korea founder Kim Il Sung and his son Kim Jong Il.

The defector also spoke favorably of current leader Kim Jong Un.

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"Let us raise the red flag high! Let us follow the revered leader Kim Jong Un and fly the flag. Allegiance to the revolutionary leader is the will and conscience of the revolutionary warrior," one message read.

The defector, who worked as a middle school chemistry teacher in North Korea for three years, was using songs from North Korean textbooks, according to Yonhap.

The man also used computers in public libraries and similar spaces to post the online messages to deter investigators.

The defector left North Korea in July 2005 and entered the South in April 2007, according to the report.

Human Rights Watch has criticized South Korea's National Security Law for targeting people with differing political opinions with criminal charges, rather than "debating the underlying issues."