Censorship
South Korea’s National Security Law making headlines
Jan 7th
South Korea’s attempts to keep North Korean material from the eyes and ears of its citizens is coming under the global media spotlight as the country launches a new sweep of domestic web sites and discussion forums.
Led by U.S. National Public Radio, the country’s arrests of citizens for the seemingly benign posting of North Korean songs or news clips was also covered by the Associated Press and most recently by The New York Times.
The coverage is likely unwelcome in Seoul.
NPR scored an interviewed with President Lee Myung Bak who defended the law as essential for maintaining South Korea’s way of More >
Around 40 questioned over “pro-NK” Internet postings
Oct 20th
Authorities in South Korea are questioning around 40 people over Internet postings said to be in support of North Korea, according to several local news reports.
(Update: The Dong-a-Ilbo reports around 70 are under criminal probe on suspicion of circulating materials praising North Korea online in violation of the National Security Law.)
The material was posted on personal websites and the now defunct “Cyber Command for National Defense” website, according to Yonhap. The site, which was shutdown late last year, had about 6,500 members of whom about 600 were judged to be at its core, according to previous estimates.
Last week police confiscated the server on More >
Seoul eyes harsher crackdown on “pro-NK” websites
Oct 14th
South Korean prosecutors are launching a crackdown on websites and users judged to be posting “pro-North Korean” material, according to several local press reports.
The action comes as regulators judge the amount of such material available to South Korean citizens has “mushroomed to a risky level,” according to prosecutors quoted by Yonhap News said.
North Korea’s state-run media outlets have spent the last year launching several propaganda-filled sites that report on aspects of life in the country and extol the benefits of the country’s political system and its leaders. The outlets have also expanded onto social media with Twitter, Facebook and YouTube channels.
The ease with More >
South Korea’s online blocking sharply rose in 2010
Sep 18th
The number of requests by South Korean police for the deletion of Internet content alleged to be pro-North Korean has soared in the past two years, according to a report in the Dong-A Ilbo.
Police submitted 80,449 requests to the Korea Communications Standards Commission for the removal of online postings in 2010. That compares to 14,430 in 2009 and just 1,793 in 2008 and represents a 45-fold increase over the last two years, the newspaper said.
The annual deletions of North Korean content were pretty constant during the middle of the last decade at between 1,000 and 1,500 per year. They began More >
Koryo Tours hits out at South Korean web block
Aug 1st
Koryo Tours, the Beijing-based travel agent that specializes in tours of North Korea, says South Korea has “over reacted” in blocking its website since the beginning of this year.
The websites koryotours.com and koryogroup.com have been unavailable from South Korean Internet connections since January 26 this year, apparently a casualty of South Korea’s campaign to stop its citizens from seeing North Korean content.
“This came as a complete surprise – we had not been notified in advance or asked to explain particular content, nor notified afterwards and given an explanation,” the company said in a statement.
Koryo Tours said it arranged a meeting with the More >
Internet, mobile phones eyed for Mt. Kumgang
Jul 11th
North Korea plans to allow Internet access and the use of mobile phones by visitors to the Mount Kumgang tourism zone.
Visitors are typically relieved of their mobile phones when entering North Korea and public Internet access is not available inside the country.
But the country is establishing a special tourism zone around Mount Kumgang, the scenic North Korean mountain resort that was the subject of a previous tourism agreement with Hyundai. The South Korean company halted tours to the area in July 2008 after a South Korean tourist was accidentally shot while walking along a beach in the region.
More than a More >
North last, South falling in press freedom
May 5th
North Korea remains the country with the least press freedom in the world, according to the 2011 Press Freedom index from Washington, D.C., based Freedom House. The news isn’t a surprise to anyone that follows North Korea closely. There is a complete lack of independent media, official media is highly censored, and the government actively blocks foreign media from penetrating the country.
What’s perhaps more interesting is a drop in the rank of neighboring South Korea.
The survey ranks countries on 23 questions, assigning scores that are combined to provide a total. The total runs from 0 (best) to 100 (worst) and countries More >
UN Special Rapporteur calls for freedoms in DPRK
Mar 6th
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the DPRK has called for increased freedom of information and access to independent media for the people of North Korea. The calls came in a 76-point report submitted on Feb. 21, 2011, to the UN’s Human Rights Council.
The rapporteur, Marzuki Darusman, met with defectors, politicians and others in South Korea and Japan when compiling the report. Darusman previously served as Indonsia’s Attorney General and was a member of the country’s National Commission of Human Rights.
In the report, he covers access to independent and international media, Internet access, press freedom and the dangers associated More >
KCNA reporting Chinese Internet filtering
Feb 22nd
North Korea’s official news agency, KCNA, has reported three times in the past week on China’s filtering of the Internet.
The reports come at an interesting time for free-speech online. Internet-based social networks and communications systems are being hailed as instrumental in protests that have toppled two Middle Eastern leaders and the U.S. has confirmed a commitment to advancing Internet freedom with diplomatic pressure and grants of up to US$30 million.
Internet access is available in the DPRK, but is believed to be severely restricted to all but the most-trusted members of the government and related organs.
KCNA’s first report came on Feb. 14, More >
South Korea steps up blocking of DPRK sites
Jan 14th
South Korea has begun blocking Naenara and several of its sub-sites. The move comes days after the site reactivated its dot-kp North Korean domain name and plugs a long-standing hole in South Korea’s cyber wall against North Korean online propaganda.
The blocking, first reported by Yonhap, results in South Korean Internet users being redirected to the National Police Agency’s warning site (pictured right.)
It has also taken out the Korea Sports Fund’s Faster Korea page, an out-of-date page for the Pyongyang International Trade Fair, and the sites of the Cholsan Patent and Trademark Agency and Koryo PAT Rainbow patent agency.
Naenara is More >
