SUWON, May 7 (Yonhap) — A 28-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly praising North Korea online in violation of an anti-North Korea law, police said Thursday.

The man, identified only by his surname Nam, was apprehended near a university in Gongju, South Chungcheong Province, Wednesday night, according to a spokesman for the Gyeonggi Provincial Police Agency.

He allegedly posted dozens of articles sympathetic to the Pyongyang regime between December 2011 and April 2013.

Nam is a member of Corean Alliance, a civic group dubbed “anti-state” by the South Korean government.

More than 20 members of Corean Alliance staged a rally in front of a police station here, insisting the arrest stifled freedom of speech.

The National Security Law bans South Koreans from praising or sympathizing with North Korea.