hankyoreh

Covering a story such as online surveillance is a collaborative effort with support at home and abroad. The assistance of foreign groups has been invaluable in the Hankyoreh’s coverage of the current situation.

Eric King, deputy director of the British information rights group Privacy International, provided materials and information about legal action against his country’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ). Katitza Rodriguez of the Electronic Frontier Foundation offered materials on legislative efforts in the US in the wake of the Edward Snowden revelations. Toshimaru Ogura of the Japanese civic group JCA-NET shared materials on deep-sea optical cables in the Pacific Ocean and AT&T, which is reported to have collaborated with the National Security Agency (NSA), along with details about the response in Japan. The organization Jinbonet shared materials on information rights groups outside of South Korea.

Other support was provided by overseas reporters. Australian freelance reporter Philip Dorling provided trial records on statements made in court by a bureau director with the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), Australia’s equivalent of the National Intelligence Service. Steven Borowiec of the Hankyoreh‘s international edition researched materials on intelligence organizations and Parliament in his home country of Canada. Seo Gyu-seok converted Snowden documents into digital format.

The documents that have been disclosed to date represent only a portion of the tens of millions reported to exist. For our reporting, the question for now is how many more exist that are related to South Korea. When asked whether it had plans to release more documents concerning South Korea, the Intercept, set up by journalist Glenn Greenwald, who first reported on the Snowden files, said that the question would be “difficult to answer.”

By Ko Na-mu, staff reporter

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