hankyoreh

If a bill is passed, online users in South Korea will be required to have their identification checked prior to posting comments on internet portal sites and news media web sites in order to prevent cyber crimes such as libel and violation of privacy.

The Ministry of Information and Communication and the governing Uri Party agreed yesterday to tackle a revised bill regarding the Internet in an upcoming regular session of the National Assembly.

"Those who wish to post their comments on major Web sites will have to get their identification checked," Rep. Byun Jae-il of the ruling Uri Party said. "Once their identities are confirmed, users will be allowed to post their opinions under an alias or pen name."

The new move will affect users of Web portal sites with more than 300,000 visitors per day and media Web sites with over 200,000 visitors daily. According to visitor data as of May this year, 17 Web portal sites and 12 media web sites would have to adopt the new identification requirements by the beginning of next year.

The government and the Uri Party said individual cyperspace, including blogs and personal home pages, will be exempt from the new regulations. But the government said it was working on special provisions for those sites to adopt a real-identification system in the future.

The latest move is designed to prevent cyber crimes such as libel by Internet users who post comments anonymously.

Progressive civic groups, however, have opposed the introduction of the real identity system. Activist Kim Jeong-woo said, "The new move allowing the government to legally monitor all cyber information infringes upon Internet users’ constitutional rights to freedom of speech. As we witnessed when some Internet users posted malicious remarks on media web sites about the death of the son of Lim Soo-kyung, the government initiative will not be an effective countermeasure against cyber violence."

The media web site on which the comments were published employed a user-identification system, but that did not prevent the comments from being made.

Lim Soo-kyung drew public attention in 1989 for her unauthorized visit to North Korea as a student activist.

Another issue affecting South Korean cyperspace is rampant identity theft. The majority of web sites require users to enter their national identification number, which are then easily snatched up by theives and used in identity-theft-related crimes such as setting up bogus accounts or services or to visit illicit web sites. There is a way to log in using a proxy ID, but setting this option up is a lengthy process. The government has announced no further detailed plans to combat this problem.