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comm
Joined: 22 Jun 2010
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 Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2011 6:21 am Post subject: S. Korean indicted for pro-Nork postings online |
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S. Korean man indicted for pro-Pyongyang postings on Internet, Twitter
I'm not going to say that Korea should have the same civil liberties enjoyed by people in the United States. But I do wonder why the SK government gives material aid to NK while preventing citizens from saying positive things about them. |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2011 7:32 am Post subject: |
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| I'm not going to say that Korea should have the same civil liberties enjoyed by people in the United States. But I do wonder why the SK government gives material aid to NK while preventing citizens from saying positive things about them. |
One of the oddities of the Sunshine Policy under DJ and Roh was that the government would bend over backwards not to offend the North(eg. DJ refusing to attend memorials for sailors killed by NK torpedpes), all the while continuing to prosecute ordinary South Koreans for saying things that were too nice about North Korea.
It was as if the government thought that hotheaded college kids waving the North Korean flag posed a bigger threat to national security than the guys actually running the show up in Pyongyang. |
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northway
Joined: 05 Jul 2010
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| Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2011 7:41 am Post subject: |
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| Other postings claimed a South Korean military drill provoked the North to shell Yeonpyeong island in November in an attack that killed four people. |
This doesn't strike me as a hugely controversial thing to say, though I'm guessing this dude is more along the lines of his certifiably insane Korean-Japanese counterpart: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/LL15Dg01.html. |
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Fox
Joined: 04 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2011 3:24 pm Post subject: Re: S. Korean indicted for pro-Nork postings online |
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| comm wrote: |
| But I do wonder why the SK government gives material aid to NK while preventing citizens from saying positive things about them. |
Their motives are probably purely utilitarian. If giving aid to the North can help minimize outbreaks of hostility, they give aid. If letting their citizens spread Northern propaganda would help them achieve some goal they'd probably allow it too, but since it doesn't, they take action. |
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Captain Corea
Joined: 28 Feb 2005
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2011 6:13 pm Post subject: |
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| On the other hand wrote: |
| Quote: |
| I'm not going to say that Korea should have the same civil liberties enjoyed by people in the United States. But I do wonder why the SK government gives material aid to NK while preventing citizens from saying positive things about them. |
One of the oddities of the Sunshine Policy under DJ and Roh was that the government would bend over backwards not to offend the North(eg. DJ refusing to attend memorials for sailors killed by NK torpedpes), all the while continuing to prosecute ordinary South Koreans for saying things that were too nice about North Korea.
It was as if the government thought that hotheaded college kids waving the North Korean flag posed a bigger threat to national security than the guys actually running the show up in Pyongyang. |
Pretty sure that enforcement of the National Security Law dropped during their terms. |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2011 9:03 am Post subject: |
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| Captain Corea wrote: |
| On the other hand wrote: |
| Quote: |
| I'm not going to say that Korea should have the same civil liberties enjoyed by people in the United States. But I do wonder why the SK government gives material aid to NK while preventing citizens from saying positive things about them. |
One of the oddities of the Sunshine Policy under DJ and Roh was that the government would bend over backwards not to offend the North(eg. DJ refusing to attend memorials for sailors killed by NK torpedpes), all the while continuing to prosecute ordinary South Koreans for saying things that were too nice about North Korea.
It was as if the government thought that hotheaded college kids waving the North Korean flag posed a bigger threat to national security than the guys actually running the show up in Pyongyang. |
Pretty sure that enforcement of the National Security Law dropped during their terms. |
Yeah, but I remember a few cases of people being prosecuted for speech alone under Roh(I wasn't here for much of DJ). There was that professor, for example, who wrote the paper saying that the US started the Korean War.
It just seems kind of ironic to be prosecuting ANYONE under those laws, when you're otherwise going out of your way to discourage people from saying bad things about the North. Kinda like a mother telling her kids not to say mean things about her ex-husband(in the hopes that he'll return), but then slapping them across the face when they say nice things about him. |
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young_clinton
Joined: 09 Sep 2009
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| Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2011 9:23 pm Post subject: Re: S. Korean indicted for pro-Nork postings online |
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During the American Civil War Lincoln had citizens that were actively outspoken for the South either deported to the South or jailed. It was essentially against thier civil rights but he had it done anyway, because they were dangerous to the nation at that particular time. South Korea is still at war with North Korea and North Korea is obviously a very dangerous nation. Also given North Korea's reputation of hostility towards anything decent and humane, who would speak out for North Korea anyway? Under the present circumstances, if your Korean, speak out for North Korea and get jailed. That's fine with me. |
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asylum seeker
Joined: 22 Jul 2007
Location: On your computer screen.
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| Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2011 2:53 am Post subject: |
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| The fact that the two countries are still technically in a state of war makes such things easier to justify in my opinion. Not to mention the fact that some of these agitators may well be NK infiltrators engaging in psy-ops. |
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RangerMcGreggor
Joined: 12 Jan 2011
Location: Somewhere in Korea
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| Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2011 4:24 pm Post subject: |
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| The National Security Law is still in effect and is very harsh on any sort of left-wing/DPRK sympathy. |
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Captain Corea
Joined: 28 Feb 2005
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 5:17 am Post subject: |
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| RangerMcGreggor wrote: |
| The National Security Law is still in effect and is very harsh on any sort of left-wing/DPRK sympathy. |
"very"
I think the enforcement of the law is fairly tame nowadays.
How do you figure that it's very harsh? |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 10:21 am Post subject: |
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| Captain Corea wrote: |
| RangerMcGreggor wrote: |
| The National Security Law is still in effect and is very harsh on any sort of left-wing/DPRK sympathy. |
"very"
I think the enforcement of the law is fairly tame nowadays.
How do you figure that it's very harsh? |
Using McGreggor's terminology, I think the emphasis these days is probably more on the "DPRK" than the "left-wing" side of the equation.
There are laudatory biographies of Che Guevera available at bookstores here in Gwangju, as well as critiques of globalization by well-known left-wing academics. To give just a couple of examples. Obviously, that kind of stuff wouldn't have been allowed under the dictators.
But I'm pretty sure you'd run into a bit of legal difficulty if you paraded down the street with a North Korean flag shouting "Unite the Korean peninsula under the fatherly leadership of Kim Jong Il!!" In fact, I remember a kid getting arrested for shouting something like that, in the office where he was supposed to be registering for his military service(possibly, location played a a role here).
And a few years ago, members of the Democratic Labor Party were convicted of spying, under charges that seemed to be really stretching the definition of espionage(one charge involved advising people to go to anti-American rallies, at the behest of their North Korean contacts, as if that was any significant contribution to the attendance at such rallies). They fell afoul of the law because ANY unauthorized contact between southerners and northerners is illegal, no matter how trivial the outcomes.
But obviously Democratic Labor isn't prohibited from advocating left-wing ideas in Korea, since as far as I know their platform is as left-wing as anything advocated by the NDP in Canada, if not moreso. |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 10:24 am Post subject: |
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| Oh, and if you try to access North Korean government websites, a warning from the police will likely pop up(at least and internet cafes), and you'll be denied access. I've even had these warnings come up when I've tried to access the websites of pro-Nork groups based outside of Korea. |
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Captain Corea
Joined: 28 Feb 2005
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 5:01 pm Post subject: |
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| On the other hand wrote: |
| And a few years ago, members of the Democratic Labor Party were convicted of spying, under charges that seemed to be really stretching the definition of espionage(one charge involved advising people to go to anti-American rallies, at the behest of their North Korean contacts, as if that was any significant contribution to the attendance at such rallies). They fell afoul of the law because ANY unauthorized contact between southerners and northerners is illegal, no matter how trivial the outcomes. |
And IMO, that sounds like a pretty reasonable charge. Hmmm... meet secretly with the enemy, and then carry out instructions aimed at destabilizing society. Yeah, that'd be a charge in most countries (with an active enemy).
I really don't see this as harsh.
Harsh is being hanged for talking to the enemy.
Harsh is being shot for crossing the border.
| Quote: |
| But obviously Democratic Labor isn't prohibited from advocating left-wing ideas in Korea, since as far as I know their platform is as left-wing as anything advocated by the NDP in Canada, if not moreso. |
Yup... Leftist rhetoric abounds in the South... and very few are charged.
Your example of the internet is pretty tame too. Not being able to access a website... is that really harsh?
Personally, I find it annoying and worthy of a discussion on the subject - but how much hardship is imposed because of this harsh law?
Harsh is how people were carted away by security forces years ago.
Harsh is not how I would describe things nowadays. |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Sat Jan 15, 2011 5:48 am Post subject: |
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Your example of the internet is pretty tame too. Not being able to access a website... is that really harsh?
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No, not really. Though I do object to it on principle.
But I also wonder how productive that kind of censorship is anyway. A lot of people here on Dave's have apparently heard Koreans recite the Norks version of the Cheonan sinking, for example. Obviously, blocking the sites doesn't really prevent anyone from reading the offending opinions(probably because the media, domestic or foreign, reports on what North Korea says in its official pronouncements.) |
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NohopeSeriously
Joined: 17 Jan 2011
Location: The Christian Right-Wing Educational Republic of Korea
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| Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2011 6:17 pm Post subject: |
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| On the other hand wrote: |
No, not really. Though I do object to it on principle.
But I also wonder how productive that kind of censorship is anyway. A lot of people here on Dave's have apparently heard Koreans recite the Norks version of the Cheonan sinking, for example. Obviously, blocking the sites doesn't really prevent anyone from reading the offending opinions(probably because the media, domestic or foreign, reports on what North Korea says in its official pronouncements.) |
There are many Korean students in China reading the North Korean version of South Korean news. I know some South Korean university students fearing the government for potentially censoring Chinese websites.
But anyways. This is according to my Chinese professor back home in Canada: "It's surprising that China is now the champion of South Korean internet freedom". Ironic but very honestly true. |
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