The government will push for measures to disband "anti-state" activist groups that attempt to praise, encourage or propagandize North Korean political ideals, the justice ministry said Wednesday.

In an annual policy report to President Park Geun-hye, the ministry said the plan reflects growing public opinion that the government should put forward steps to ban the activities of such anti-state, pro-enemy organizations.

Activist groups such as the South Headquarters of the Pan-national Alliance for Korea's Reunification, founded in 1993, and the Korean Federation of Student Councils were previously ruled as "organizations that threaten national security" by the nation's top court.

However, these groups have been active for years since there is no clear code of law that prohibits them from being active.

Watchers said one of the possible government measures will be the revision of the National Security Law to ban any "anti-state" activities attempting to praise, encourage or propagandize North Korean political ideals.

Currently, an amendment to the draconian law, which allows local courts to disband anti-state, pro-enemy organizations, is pending at the National Assembly.

The government move comes a month after the Constitutional Court ordered the dissolution of the Unified Progressive Party , a pro-North Korean minor opposition party, outlawing a political party here for the first time since the country adopted its first constitution in 1948.

The ruling came more than a year after the justice ministry filed a petition with the court following the arrest of a number of UPP members on rebellion conspiracy charges. Several UPP members, including Rep. Lee Seok-ki, were convicted of plotting to overthrow the government in the event of a war with the communist North.

They were found guilty of conspiring with members of a clandestine organization, called the Revolutionary Organization, to topple the South's government if a war broke out with North Korea.

The justice ministry said it will enforce efforts to educate elementary school students about the principles of the Constitution.

The ministry will join with the education ministry to reorganize the contents of textbooks so that the students could understand the Constitution and the law better, it said.

The ministry said that suspects of sex crimes against minors, in principle, will be detained for an investigation, and heavier prison terms will be demanded as well.

The government said it will introduce a so-called "three-strike system," against those participating in illegal protests or strikes, as well those who commit violence against police officers.

In a separate policy report, the public safety ministry said it will establish a special rescue team, which can respond to land disasters within 30 minutes of occurrence and to maritime accidents within an hour, in order to better cope with national disasters.

The move comes after the government came under heavy criticism for its botched initial handling of a ferry sinking in April 2014 that claimed more than 300 lives.

The government also plans to introduce a series of reform measures this year to root out corruption in officialdom and thus to raise national competitiveness.

To that end, the government will introduce a code of conduct for minister-level officials and a work ethics education program for government employees, among other things.

The envisioned code of conduct is designed to rein in possible corruption among government ministers. It will require ministers to take an oath of integrity and bar them from receiving honorariums for giving job-related lectures.

All civil servants will be obliged to undergo an education program on work ethics and integrity, while the plan calls for limiting the employment of retired government workers at private companies. (Yonhap)