Amnesty International has called on the South Korean government to release a photographer charged with re-tweeting messages from North Korea’s official Twitter account (@uriminzok).

“Uriminzok” means “Our nation.”

Park Jeong-geun, a 24-year-old photographer, was charged on January 31 by South Korean prosecutors with violating the country’s security laws for re-tweeting 102 messages, like “long live Kim Jong-il” who died in December.

Under the National Security Law (NSL), those who praise, incite or propagate the activities of an “anti-government organization” could face up to seven years in prison.

However, Park told Amnesty:  My intention was to ridicule North Korea’s leaders for a joke, rather than support them.”

Park is a member of the Socialist Party which openly criticizes North Korea and its leadership.

“I disagree with North Korean communism but I am interested in North Korean culture and have a right to know about it,” he said.

Amnesty accused the South Korean government of “failing to understand sarcasm.”

“Imprisoning anyone for peaceful expression of their opinions violates international law,” Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Director Sam Zarifi said in a press release yesterday.

The “ludicrous” charges against Park “should be dropped immediately,” he added.

He also noted, “For too long South Korean authorities have been using the NSL to restrict basic freedoms and gag civil society in the name of national security.”

According to Amnesty the authorities have increasingly used the NSL to harass critics of the South Korean government’s North Korea policies since 2008.

“The NSL should be reformed in line with human rights laws, and if the government cannot do this, it must be abolished,” Zarifi said.