Peasants Belong on Farms, Not in Prisons. Release South Korean Peasant Leader Hyun Jin-hee Immediately!
La Via Campesina demands the immediate release of Hyun Jin-hee, the head of the Jeju Daechung Branch of the Korean Women Peasants Association (KWPA).
The arrest and imprisonment of Hyun Jin-hee is an excessive interpretation and unjust application of the law, aimed at silencing the voices of peasants. It constitutes a violation of the freedom of thought, political expression, and association, and stands in clear breach of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP).
On March 27, 2025, Hyun Jin-hee was sentenced to one year and eight months in prison and was immediately taken into custody.
This unjust outcome stems from an incident on March 4, 2023, in front of Jeju Prison, where a press conference was held to protest the forced detention of a progressive activist who had exercised their right to remain silent.
During the police’s attempt to forcibly disperse the press conference, a spontaneous scuffle occurred as participants resisted being removed. Although Hyun Jin-hee deeply regretted the situation and did not appeal the original ruling, the prosecutor appealed the case, leading to a second trial where she was handed a much heavier sentence after a mere 30-minute hearing and was immediately detained.
Despite having no risk of fleeing—given her responsibilities caring for her elderly mother with dementia, her ill husband, and her farm work—Hyun Jin-hee was unjustly imprisoned at her very first appellate hearing.
Since the beginning of Yoon Suk-yeol’s regime, farmer peasants defending their right to survive have been prosecuted under the National Security Law, while women peasants protesting violent forced detentions have been sentenced to severe penalties for “obstruction of official duties.”
Compared to the release of Yoon Suk-yeol himself, despite mounting evidence of his treasonous acts, this is a clear case of abuse of state power and a blatant double standard. The law should be equal for all. Yet today, it bows to the powerful and tramples the socially vulnerable.
La Via Campesina strongly condemns the judicial persecution of Hyun Jin-hee. Her actions were a legitimate exercise of sovereign rights against state violence and abuse of power. She must be acquitted and released immediately.
La Via Campesina denounces the injustice and inequality of the judiciary, and we urgently call once again for the immediate release of Hyun Jin-hee—a peasant woman who has dedicated her life to farming, to realizing food sovereignty, and to securing the right to live for all peasants.
“Free Hyun Jin-hee now! Justice for all peasants!”
“Globalise the hope, Globalise the struggle”