Tachikawa Masaki
Jan. 28, 2010 Seoul acquits absentee journalist over '74 strife SEOUL (Kyodo) A South Korean court Wednesday handed down a not-guilty verdict on a Japanese journalist sentenced to 20 years in prison for allegedly aiding the democracy movement in 1974 during the military regime. News photo Masaki Tachikawa Masaki Tachikawa, 63, who now lives in New York, paid 7,500 won (about ¥5,000) in cash to students as a gratuity for his reporting activities on the democracy movement in April 1974. A large number of students and activists were arrested in the incident for a suspected attempt to overthrow the South Korean government. Tachikawa, who was working for a weekly magazine at the time, was arrested along with another Japanese and interrogated by South Korean espionage agency officials, who believed the money was for funding spying activities. A military court sentenced him to 20 years in prison but he returned to Japan after his release from detention in February 1975. In 2005, Seoul concluded the military regime fabricated the allegations against him. Friday, Jan. 29, 2010