hankyoreh

Ahead of the presidential election, the Internet in South Korea is silent, despite its usually robust flurry of activity. Summonses have been issued by the police against netizens who have posted articles and videos in relation to the election on the Internet. The excessive police crackdown on the views expressed through the Internet is being criticized by netizens and the academic community as a threat to freedom of expression on the net.

A citizen of Ulsan, 51, who asked to remain anonymous, received a summons from the Yeongdeungpo Police Station in Seoul on October 16. According to the police, the user-created content posted on his personal Internet site violates election law. The citizen said, “I just posted one video clip that had been floating on the Internet. I have been operating a blog for six years but this is the first time that I have received a summons.”

User-created content under the title, “Is President Lee Myung-bak okay?” was produced by a student of a Seoul-based university identified only by his surname Kim. He posted news stories, photos and criticism in connection with remarks made by Lee, such as, “When you get massage, it’s better to choose an ugly woman” and “To prevent a disabled baby from being born, abortion can be accepted.”

Kim said, “As the conservative media hasn’t dealt with these matters at all, I want to let more netizens know about them.” Kim has also received a summons.

An ordinary office worker received four summonses at once after posting comments on a political Web site earlier last month. Articles he wrote, with titles such as, “Chosun (Ilbo) and Dong-A (Ilbo) are accelerating Lee Myung-bak’s downfall” and “Reasons why I can’t support the Grand National Party,” contain election forecasts, analyses of opinion polls and his personal views.

“The police said that all of my writing could cause problems. We cannot express both criticism and support regarding the presidential election,” he stressed.

While the objections of netizens were loud and clear, opposition to government suppression of election-related user-created content also came from the academic community.

Professor Kang Won-taek, a professor of political science at Soongsil University said, “More voters are participating in election campaigns or political discussions via the Internet because it is free. It is time to reverse the ban preventing these kinds of activities.”

Min Gyeong-bae, a professor at Kyung Hee Cyber University, urged the authorities not to silence these discussions and to allow netizens to participate in what could become a lively political debate.

Park Rae-gun from the Sarangbang Group for Human Rights said, “There is no freedom of expression for politics on the Internet. The election laws have turned the Internet into a sea of silence.”

Meanwhile, netizens worry that the excessive crackdown by the police will reverse the democratic nature of the Internet. They maintain that the authorities have damaged the freedom of speech and expression guaranteed by the South Korean Constitution in the name of the election law.

Some netizens have begun to stage demonstrations against these measures. A political portal named Surprise and netizens posting articles on this site have rejected requests by the National Election Commission to delete their articles. Instead, tens of thousands of articles protesting against the commission’s measures have been posted on its Internet bulletin board.

These measures have been taken following an election law banning people from posting or screening content that could influence the election, which either supports or opposes a particular candidate, and is effective 180 days ahead of the election.

According to the election commission, though its efforts have been in vain, it has called on the National Assembly to rewrite the existing election law due to the objections of the GNP, which has a negative perspective on campaign-related Internet activity. Part of the GNP’s sense of adversity may be due to unpleasant memories of the previous presidential election, in which its candidate Lee Hoi-chang lost the race.


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