hankyoreh

By Lee Kyung-mi

Netizens are taunting an army unit after learning it designated the podcast "Naneun Ggomsuda” (Naggomsu) as a "pro-North Korean" app and ordered it deleted.


The Army's consolidated maintenance depot (CMD) in Changwon, Gyeongsangnam-do on Jan. 31 sent out an official notice in the name of the unit commander to units ordering that pro-North Korean smart phone applications be deleted. The notice designated eight apps as pro-North Korean and ordered their deletion, and called for smart phones to be checked to see if they've been deleted every third Wednesday, when cyber-security checks are made. The eight pro-North Korean apps were "Naggomsu"; "Smart Candle," which lets users know where candlelight protests are; "Smart Card," which includes criticism of the current administration's unification policies; "Gaka Retirement Countdown," which shows how many days remain in President Lee Myung-bak's term; "Aeguk Jeonseon," run by the Internet media "Voice of the People"; "Southern Headquarters of the Pan-National Alliance for Reunification of the Fatherland," run by the organ of the Pan-National Alliance for Reunification of the Fatherland; "North Korea World," with North Korean travel information; and "Kim Jong-il Puzzle."
Twitter users sarcastically lit into the Army, with tweets like "Naggomsu's 6 million users are pro-North Korean? Unification is close!" (@ddolddongji) and "Leaving aside whether it's pro-North or pro-South, is a podcast an app?" (@Jinhaemi3). When controversy erupted, Defense Ministry spokesperson Kim Min-seok said in his regular briefing Friday that it appears the commander of a front-line unit made his own decision on the matter, but the designation (as a pro-North Korean app) appeared a bit excessive. An Army official said the commander ordered that measures be studied to deal with pro-North Korean apps, but this was misrepresented and included Naggomsu. He added that a correction was sent out removing Naggomsu from the list.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]