CHAPTER 6. FREEDOM OF OPINION AND EXPRESSION AND THE INTERNET
Jinbonet
6-1. Overview
In 2008, the internet users in Korea were 37.48 million comprising 77.8% of the whole population. Except for a few public access channels, the media is not easily accessible to the public. The Internet is an indispensable medium of expression for the Korean public.
In May and June of 2008, candlelight vigils fueled a growing controversy in Korea. The public opinion protested importation of US beef feared to be infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy, otherwise commonly known as the mad cow disease. The internet played a crucial role in bringing the participation of ordinary individuals such as housewives, youth and workers who spend half of their day at school or work. Through online communities and blogs, they conducted discussions, arranged their thoughts, and organized actions. The Internet provided a means to self expression and empowerment to these students who lack social and economic resources.
However, the controversy of the violation of freedom of expression on the internet is deepening recently as administrative regulation and criminal prosecution are strengthening against the citizen‘s postings of free expression on the internet. Since the beginning of the Lee Myung-bak administration, the Korea Communications Standards Commission (KSCS)‘s administrative deliberation has heightened and the cases of criminal prosecution for false communication and defamation have increased. Any postings criticizing the police and the ruling party have been subject to deletion in the pretext of privacy violation and defamation and the ?mandatory internet real-name registration system‘, which allows registered users with confirmed real names to upload postings, has been expanded.
After the Lee Myung-bak administration took office in 2008, restrictions on Internet postings and criminal prosecutions are increasing. In addition, while discussing in the National Assembly, the government and the ruling party are proposing new laws to strengthen the internet regulations. The government levies fines on internet service provider that don‘t comply to the temporary deletion request and allows monitoring, and is cementing the implementation of the ?Real-Name Registration‘ system. Ruling party members created cyber insult crime which allows investigation without accusation giving more punishment over slander. They also passed the law obligating the internet service providers to equip themselves without monitoring tools and data retention to store the list of people who log in.
Likewise, these internet regulations is a serious violation to freedom of expression and opinion as it brings a chilling effect on people by seeing the posters‘ freedom of expression being violated, self-censorship is becomes naturally enforced.
6-2. Arbitrary Administrative Deliberation
In the 1990s, the administrative deliberation system on media such as movie or music has been abolished during the Korean democratization process. However, the administrative deliberation on the internet has persisted since the launch of the commercial internet service in 1994 by the former Information Communication Ethics Committee (ICEC) until now. In particular, in 2008, since the establishment of the Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC) by the new government, administrative deliberations on critical internet postings and subsequent posting deletions are becoming common place.
On the user‘s administrative litigation, the KCSC asserts that its request to delete postings is just a recommendation without force. But, by the facts that the members of the KCSC are appointed by the president, the matters of the organization and the management of the KCSC is decided by a presidential decree, and the expenses for the management are provided by government‘s fund and subsidies, the court of first instances acknowledged the KCSC as an administrative institution.
If the online service providers or maintainers reject the KCSC‘s recommendation, then the KCSC can issue administrative orders to suspend the websites, so the cases of noncompliance are rare. According to the KCSC, since its establishment until December 2009, the percentage of compliance comprise up to 99% (from 32,468 out of 32,640).
The KCSC conducts online deliberations for purposes of controlling illegal information and online content harmful to minors based on standards of ―fostering healthy communications ethics.? It is a clear violation of freedom of expression when the administration arbitrarily judges and deletes postings under undemocratic and opaque process.
Firstly, it is provisional that the administrative, not the judiciary institution, determines unlawfulness of acts. Moreover, the KCSC‘s deliberation targets the online service providers or maintainers, not the person concerned, by which the concerned person‘s testimony is not guaranteed. In July 2008, the KCSC determined the postings written by consumers calling for a boycott to be ―unlawful second boycott, and issued a decision to ?delete‘? them. The concerned posting contained the list and the phone numbers of the companies with advertisement in conservative daily newspapers Chosun, Joongang, and Dong-A to boycott them for reporting ―with a bias on candlelight vigils.? In April 2009, the KSCS decided to delete the posting of an environmental activists criticizing ―carcinogenic waste cement? on the grounds for defaming the cement companies. In February 2010, the Seoul Administrative Court judged for the deletion to be canceled, but the KCSC appealed so the trial is still going on.
In particular, public criticisms have greatly decreased due to the KCSC deleting the posts criticizing the government and the officials on grounds that they are unlawful. According to the March 2009 commission statistics, 12 politicians and government officials requested deliberations for defamation since the commission‘s beginning in 2008 and 10 of them are ruling party politicians and incumbent administration officials. The commission ordered deletion in 8 (72.2%) out of 11 defamation deliberation cases and the portal websites removed 203 related articles. The commission ordered the ?deletion‘ of a posting that criticized a Gyeonggi province governor‘s statement as pro-colonial and demanded his resignation in January 2009 and the posting that criticized the Seoul Mayor for giving out military goods at a Veteran‘s Association in July 2009, both on the pretext of defamation. The police has aggressively requested to the KCSC to delete any postings that criticized them and the government. In July 2008, when this request got exposed to the public, it evoked public criticism. The KCSC decided to delete some of them. In June 2009, the KCSC decided to delete a posting which contained a photo of a police striking a citizen participating in a demonstration on Labor Day on grounds of portrait right violation.
<Table 6-1> Report of KCSC?s correction request on false information (Duration: establishment ~ Feb. 2010)
Classification | Total | Deleted | Usage terminated | Usage Stopped | Access denied | Display obligation executed | Display method changed
Obscenity 4,638 2,698 1,374 13 553 0 0
Defamation 2,116 2,113 0 0 3 0 0
Cyber stalk 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Hacking/Virus 22 21 0 0 1 0 0
Material harmful to minors 116 0 0 – – 50 66
Speculation 12,585 173 3,732 0 8,680 0 0
State secret leakage 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Violation of the National Security Act 1,569 1,553 2 0 14 0 0
Other criminal acts 7,422 2,777 3,428 0 1,217 0 0
Total 28,468 9,335 8,536 13 10,468 50 66
* Source : Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC)
Next, deliberations based on standards of ―fostering healthy communications ethics?, rather than on unlawfulness, are unconstitutional. With this kind of standard, on May 2008, the KCSC issued a recommendation to ―refine language and refrain from exaggerated expressions? to an online posting labeling the president ?2MB‘ and ?wicked person‘ among others initials which disparaged his character. Excessively regulating freedom of expression on vague standards violates the 2002 Constitutional Court decision. The former Korea Internet Safety Commission supervised the management of ?improper communication‘ and received much censure for conducting arbitrary deliberations, for example, shutting down an online community consisting of students who dropped out of school for being too critical of schools.6 A decision from the Constitutional Court in June 2002 found that it is unconstitutional for the commission to conduct deliberations with the vague ―improper? standard. ―Fostering healthy communications ethics? is also under fire for the same reasons.
6-3. Criminal Prosecution of the Public Criticism
Since 2008, many Internet users have been criminally prosecuted for posting articles criticizing the government.
The public prosecutor‘s office held an emergency conference after the candlelight vigils began on May 2 to announce plans for investigations on the ?online urban legends on mad cow disease‘ and the government published a list of ―10 frequently asked questions and answers to the urban legends on mad cow disease? on its website.15 The government pointed out such statements as ―mad cow disease can be transmitted through cosmetics, sanitary pads, and diapers among other products that make use of cows?, and ―most Americans eat beef from Australia or New Zealand? and other such postings based on ?groundless insecurities and misunderstandings‘ to be urban legends. The government was much criticized for attempts to criminally punish these ?assertions‘. Since the investigation on the mad cow disease urban legends till the present, there is a continuous stream of charges filed or police investigations on online articles containing material related to candlelight vigils or critical of the government.
The writers are often charged with ?spreading false information‘; this law was enacted in 1983 but hasn‘t been invoked until the candlelight vigil investigations. But in May, 2008, the police and the public prosecutor‘s office charged a youth with ―spreading false information? after he sent out messages through his mobile phone and the Internet suggesting a school strike to protest the import of US beef. He was acquitted in court of the first instance and in the appeals court; the public prosecutor appealed to the Supreme Court and the case is still pending. The police and the public prosecutor‘s office prosecuted netizens who spread rumors of police raping or killing citizens in the process of violently subduing protestors and taking them to the police station. Some have been convicted in the court of the first instance. In January, 2009, the netizen with the pseudonym ?Minerva‘ who posted articles online criticizing the government‘s foreign exchange policies, was detained and prosecuted for violating the ?false news provision‘ This received much attention from the Korean and foreign media and had an adverse effect on the right to freedom of expression; other netizens also critical of the government successively gave up writing altogether. The court in the first instance acquitted him in April 2009 but the prosecutor‘s office has appealed.
Many online cafe operators, rallying online for candlelight vigils protesting US beef imports and against netizens active in online cafes such as ?baby carriage squads‘, ?candlelight car coalitions‘, have been subject to search and seizure in their homes and workplace, to detention, and to criminal prosecution. In particular, the public prosecutor prosecuted and employed ruthless investigative tactics such as prohibition of departure, search and seizure, and detention on Internet cafe operators who posted a list of advertisers on daily newspapers Chosun, Joongang, and Dong-A as part of an effort to boycott the advertisers‘ products. They were convicted in the court of first instance and appeals court, and now the case is still pending in the Supreme Court of Justice.
Recently, it is inciting controversy by the fact that the police and government prosecuting people criticizing
their department on grounds of ―defamation‘. In July 2008, the police chief prosecuted a user on charges of
―defamation? whose identity was revealed during internet debate on candlelight vigils. In the court of first instances, he was given suspension, but in the Supreme Court of Justice, he was found not guilty.
In May 2009, the police prosecuted a user, formally a riot police, who publicized the lyrics of the music satirizing riot police on the internet, on charges of prior production prohibition injunction and defamation, and requested civil compensation for damages. This case was dismissed by the court and the prosecutor. On the other hand, in March 2010, the Ministry of Culture prosecuted an internet user who distributed a media file of the figure skater, Kim Yu Na avoiding being hugged by the Ministry of Culture on charges of defamation. If these kind of criminal prosecutions continue, even though the court would rule not guilty, it will lead to the chilling effect.
6-4. Temporary Measures on the Public Criticism
Postings with criticisms against the President, Government, ruling party politicians, or newspapers supporting the ruling party are immediately being deleted. This is based on current law which allows Internet businesses to delete postings for up to thirty days (without any legal intervention) if one reports that a certain posting has violated his privacy or has defamed one‘s character. If the internet business does not take these actions, it is liable for claims of damage. The temporary measure system is similar to the ?notice and take down‘ system of Copyright Law, but it differs in that the publisher does not have a right to make an objection and the rules are unclear about what happens to the posting after the temporary period of thirty days. Some businesses automatically revive the postings after thirty days, while others permanently delete the posting if there is not a request by the author. Thus, while one‘s posting may be unjustly deleted, it is hard to revive the right of the author due to complicated procedures and loss of confidence. Even after thirty days has passed and the posting is revived, the effect of the posting may be over after the thirty day period. The biggest problem of the system is that the government and the ruling party are using this system to quickly hide criticism coming its way.
In May and July, 2008, the police called for temporary deletion on the internet providers who posted up articles criticizing the younger brother of the Police Chief for charges of defamation, and they acted in accordance. This posting included a video which the Daejeon Broadcasting Company released about prostitution allegations in a certain hotel which the younger brother of Police Chief, Oh Chung Soo was an investor. The Police Department immediately requested fourteen Internet sites including Google and YouTube to delete the postings, but it did nothing to the Broadcasting Company- which was the original source. In May 2009, many postings were reported to be deleted by the police because they criticized the use of violence by the police. These postings criticized the police officers clubbed unarmed citizens during the Labor Day Gathering, and among the deleted postings there was a courteous public questioning from a blogger to a certain police high official.32 The police separately requested deliberation to the Korea Communications Standards Commission and in June a decision deleted the postings permanently.
In October 2008, a posting which described a certain politician of the ruling party as ?a drunken public nuisance‘ with an added link to his personal web page, was temporarily deleted according the request of the politician. In April 2009, another posting which criticized a ruling party politician as ?a monster wearing the skin of a human‘ was temporarily deleted according to that politician‘s request. In April 2009, some postings written by the opposition party and netizens on allegations of Chosun Ilbo‘s use of prostitution were also deleted. A posting uploaded by the Democratic Party member Jong-gul Lee was temporarily deleted by the request of the Chosun Ilbo.30 Politician Lee edited the posting to ―XX Ilbo? but Daum temporarily erased this posting and asked the Korea Communication Standards Commission for deliberation. The commission decided that the posting did not defame the character of the individual and the posting was revived, but numerous other postings by other Internet users were deleted.
6-5. Presidential Election Period and freedom of expression and opinion on the I nternet
As the expression of support or opposition to the formal candidate on the internet is viewed as ―Election Campaign? in the Public Election Law, during election period, many internet users are prosecuted and many of their postings are getting deleted. According to Article 93(!) of the Public Election Law, it is prohibited to support or oppose the candidate 180 days before election day, and it is by this law that the internet postings, parody images, UCC (User Created Content) and twitter are regulated. During the 17th Presidential Election in 2007, the user who created 5 UCC episodes titled ―Is President Lee Myung Bak Okay?? composed by articles, photos, and opinions in the media was prosecuted and suspended with a fine of 8million won. Moreover, as article 251 of the Public Election Law prohibits slander against candidates, this is making it difficult for citizens to evaluate or criticize them. During that election period, on user was prosecuted and given 10 million won fine in the court of first instances for just calling the presidential candidate ―Ddang Baki? as a nickname. In the coming local elections, many postings are widely being deleted, and many users are subject to prosecution.
<Table 6-2> Crackdown of Cyber Election Crime
18th Election of members to the National Assembly
Category | Total | Measures : Subtotal : Accusation : Investigation request : Warning : Caution : Notification | Request to delete
Total 10,623 42 3 6 28 2 3 10,581
Slander, black and white propaganda 600 9 2 4 1 – 2 591
Prior election campaign 9,475 27 – 2 22 2 1 9,448
Other 548 6 1 – 5 – – 542
17th Presidential elections
Category | Total | Measures : Subtotal : Accusation : Investigation request : Warning : Caution : Notification | Request to delete
Total 87,812 59 7 29 23 – – 87,753
Slander, black and white propaganda 6,752 30 4 24 2 – – 6,722
Prior election campaign 76,277 24 2 5 17 – – 76,253
Other 4,783 5 1 – 4 – – 4,778
* Source : Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC)
** Slander, black and white propaganda in article 251, prior election campaign in article 93(1) of Public
Election Law
6-6. Internet Real Name Registration System
Since 2004, the ?Mandatory Internet Real-Name System‘ was introduced, which is based on an individual‘s resident registration number. This system is problematic because it violates freedom of expression which comes from anonymity, reduces the people‘s participation in politics, and encourages the Internet sites to collect and misuse sensitive private personal information such as resident registration number.
According to the revised [Public Election Laws] of 2004, all online newspaper notice boards only allow registered users with confirmed real names to upload postings during election. If the newspapers do not implement the required technical processes, they must pay a fine.33 In May 2006, ?The Sound of the Masses‘(Min-joong Sori) was ordered to pay a fine because they refused to follow the real name system. Also, in December 2007, ?Real World‘(Cham Sae-sang)refused to adopt the real-name system during the presidential election, received a fine, and is now awaiting trial. This was an important time because aside from the presidential election in December 2007, there was also a nationwide dispute on the ?Anti-Discrimination Act.‘ Among the thirteen original criteria included in the bill such as gender, age, race, and face-color, the law was enacted without the following seven categories; medical history, nation of origin, sexual orientation, education, family, language, and criminal history. However, the sexual minorities were unable to participate in this argument even though they were directly affected by this law, because they had to reveal their sexual orientation according to their ?real-name‘. Also, activities of a student association were significantly restrained because of the real-name policy. The student association was supposed to evaluate the Education Policies of the Candidates for Presidency in 2007. However, the association was worried about the possible negative effect on the active students because their resident registration number and age would be revealed. This is because the participation in election campaigning is currently forbidden under Public Election Law.
<Table 6-3> Compliance of Real Name Registration System under Public Election Law
Category | Compliance | Deviation (temporary closure of notice board) | Denial (fine levied)
18th National Assembly Election 834 452 0
(2008.4.)
17th Presidential Election 880 259 1
(2007.12.)
4th Regional Election 483 172 1
(2006.5.)
*Source : National Election Commission
According to the 2007 revised law on information use on the Internet, portals, the press, and UCC, Internet sites must allow only registered users on the real-name policy to upload postings. If they do not implement the necessary technical processes, they will be fined. Since February 2009, the sites subject to this law will be increased from 37 to 153 and since February 2010, they increase again to 167. The government is currently talking about expanding this number. However, Google Korea announced that it would not follow this ?Real-Name Policy‘ and stopped user settings in ?Korea.‘ After this, many users have become ?cyber wanderers‘ and they are moving from Korean websites, which require identification, to foreign email sites or blogs. According to the law on Internet websites of 2009, if the user of an Internet domain does not his or her ?real name‘, the Internet webpage administration board is required to eliminate the domain name, or otherwise fined.
6-7. Internet Users traced by the Government Investigative Bodies
Since the ?Real-Name Registration‘ system, Internet businesses have been constantly retaining private information of the users and cooperating with the investigating authorities. The court issued warrant required for access to a user‘s private information has become a mere formality. Thus, the private information of users without any kind of criminal accusation is being handed too easily to the authorities and Internet users are constantly being spied on. The perception that the investigating authorities are watching over the average Internet user when they write critical articles about the government scares the people from writing their real opinions.
According to the [Electric Technical Law], when the investigating authorities or information agencies ask for a user‘s name, resident registration number, address, or phone number, etc., they must make a written request. However, there is no need to prove a crime or show a court warrant ? in urgent cases, the written request can be submitted after the information has been handed over. Every year the number of requests of information from investigating agencies or governmental agencies has increased and last year the number of requests for information related to the Internet totaled 119,280. In October 2008, it became known that the government and the police had been spying on postings which criticized the government; and they had been collecting information about the authors and their IDs.
<Table 6-4> Number of cases where information was given (according to each case)
land lines | cell phones | pagers | pc, internet | total
2004 46,366 191,649 20 41,894 279,929
2005 56,614 244,976 23 41,158 342,771
2006 48,462 204,071 9 71,024 323,566
2007 57,375 275,338 4 93,691 426,408
2008 58,374 296,913 1 119,280 474,568
2009 59,913 358,375 0 143,179 561,467
* Source: Korea Communication Standards Commission (Former Ministry of Information and
Communication)
[Internet Privacy Protection Law] requires investigative agencies and government associations to ask for a court‘s permission before it requests sensitive information such as the poster‘s IP address or Internet log records. However, every year the number of requests of information from investigative agencies or governmental agencies increases and in 2009 the amount of requests about information related to the Internet totaled 57,549 requests.
<Table 6-5> Number of Cases with Reported Use of Communication (according to each case)
land lines | cell phones | pagers | pc, internet | total
2004 23,403 108,118,930 3 44,665 176,830
2005 21,636 87,114 10 54,793 195,369
2006 21,948 110,738 0 41,681 150,743
2007 31,337 128,166 0 41,584 183,659
2008 37,912 296913 0 46,667 212,745
*Source : Korea Communication Standards Commission (Former Ministry of Information and
Communication)
[Internet Privacy Protection Law] requires investigative authorities to get permission from the court when they want to monitor private material such as Internet emails or private postings. However in reality, the court does not give out the warrants as strictly as they should. In fact, only 3.6 percent of the total number of requests for a warrant was rejected by the court in 2007. In times of emergency, warrant can be received after the situation, and if monitoring doesn‘t continue on after 36 hours, then warrant is unnecessary. Thus, the number of monitoring by investigating authorities increases every year. The problem is dire because most of the monitoring is conducted by National Intelligence Service (NIS) that doesn‘t even have the right to normal criminal investigation. In 2009, 97.7% (according to phone number) of the government‘s official monitor statistic cases was conducted by the NIS. Especially, what brought more social shock was by the realization that the NIS executed Internet Deep Packet Inspection which not only included individual emails and postings but the whole internet line.
<Table 6-6> Number of Monitoring (according to each case)
land lines | cell phones | pagers | pc, internet | total
2004 887 265 0 461 1,613
2005 621 1 0 355 977
2006 577 0 0 456 1,033
2007 503 0 0 646 1,149
2008 506 0 0 646 1,152
*Source: Korea Communication Standards Commission (Former Ministry of Information and
Communication)
6-8. Recommendations
* Arbitrary administrative deliberation on the internet should be abolished and criminal prosecution needs to be decreased.
* Prosecution for ―false information? and ―defamation? should be eradicated. What is more is that there should be no restriction to criticism against the government, police or politicians. The temporary measures on public criticism should be put to stop. Even during presidential election period, free expression of criticism should be widely accepted.
* Internet Real Name Registration System should be abolished because it violates the internet user‘s privacy.
* The court‘s ruling on the provision on communication information and reported use of communication to trace and monitor internet users and monitoring should become more strict and Internet Deep Packet Inspection should be stopped.
6-9. [Appendix] Case of the Korea Press Consumerism Organization
1. Overview
The Korea Press Consumerism Organization (hereafter KPCO) was founded in May and June of 2008 as an internet community website in line with the citizens‘ boycott of the advertisements on three Korean newspapers in order to report that the view on the U.S beef importation changed to the opposite of that under the former government and to boycott Chosun Ilbo, The JoongAng Ilbo, and The Dong-A Ilbo (hereafter Chojoongdong) for making distorted reports on the candlelight demonstration against the conditions of importation.
The KPCO, which operates on a DaumCafe, an internet forum service provided by Daum(Korean web portal), posted the Ad list of Chojoongdong daily to facilitate the boycott.
As the boycott spread, The Chosun Ilbo and The Dong-A Ilbo made a request to Daum to delete all such postings. The Chosun Ilbo even demanded a closedown of the cafe.
The three newspapers‘ market share together is over 70%. As media gurus, they used their power of influence to pressure the political and business circles, labeling the citizens‘ act of free speech and a consumer movement as unlawful and demanding a criminal punishment.
Consequently, all such postings and the related were deleted. 21administrative staffs of the cafe were prosecuted and found guilty of committing business interference under criminal law in February 2009. Its appeal case is currently in process. The freedom of speech on internet in Korea was seriously infringed and reduced as a result of the event.
2. Deletion of postings as webmaster‘s provisional measure
The Chosun Ilbo sent out an official document to major websites requesting a deletion of all such postings. However, the webmasters did not accede to it. Then, from June 20, 2008, The Chosun Ilbo and The Dong-A Ilbo submitted a deletion request for each postings. The postings asked to be deleted were those related to Ad list or the boycott, and those criticizing the distorted reports of The Chosun Ilbo and Dong-A Ilbo.
Thus, Daum webmaster followed the Provisional Deletion for 30 days, and brought the case to Korea Communications Commission. Since then, The Chosun Ilbo and The Dong-A Ilbo closely monitored the KPCO cafe and requested for deletions on the spot. Five minutes was enough time for a new posting to be deleted.
3. Permanent deletion due to administrative deliberation and advice
On 1st July 2008, out of 80 postings requested for deliberation by Daum, Korea Communications Commission ruled in favor of deletion for 58 posting, stating that they violated its provisions. Also, it advised the internet businesses to delete ?similar cases‘ in its official notification of the deliberation result. The 58 postings were permanently deleted immediately. Many other similar postings both on KPCO cafe and other internet forums were also permanently deleted.
Not only postings that reported the name, phone number, website address of the advertiser, but also those with a link to websites that had Ad list postings was permanently deleted.
According to media reports, over 600 postings were permanently deleted for being a ?similar case‘ from July 2nd to 7th in 2008 PD Journal(2008.7.9)
4. A request for a closedown and regulation of forum
Unsatisfied with mere deletion requests, The Chosun Ilbo requested a closedown of KPCO cafe in an official document sent on June 23.
Daum brought the matter to Korea Communications Commission, and it deliberated ?a cooperation request for a self-purification regarding information on the advertisement boycott against specific newspapers‘. Following such administrative decision, Daum made a request to KPCO cafe to be mindful of its operation. Wary of a closedown, KPCO cafe‘s activity declined significantly.
5. Criminal punishment of KPCO administrators and authors of Ad list posting
2008. 6.17 President Lee : "The internet could become poisonous?"
6.18 Economic 5th Cycle : Prohibition pressure on posting Ad List on portal websites.
6.19 National Grand Party(Ruling Party) : Party leader, Hong Jun Po, pressuring strong actions against the boycott
6.20 Kim Kyung Han, Chief Justice : Special investigation command, conveying official document, commanding strict investigation – Immediately announced investigation course and plan according to prosecutor‘s command.
6.21 Prosecutor : Massive exclusive investigating team formed of 5 prosecutor, 10 investigator – Charge or without charge investigation conducted
7.3 Prosecutor : 23 Cafe webmaster forbidden to leave country (including 2 minors and 1 MBC cover writer)
7.3~ Prosecutor : Charge on Chojungdong – Accusing the advertising company and urging appeal
7.15 Prosecutor : search and seizure on 5 cafe webmaster‘s house and office (confiscated computer, storage device, cellphone, call history, and email)
7.18~8.14 Prosecutor : Start summon investigation. High degree investigation from morning till night, 1~3 times individually for 25 people (public holiday and mid-night investigation, including 1 middle schooler)
8.19 Prosecutor : Prior arrest warrant for six people 5 cafe webmaster and google advertising list ?poster?)
8.21 The Court : 2 arrested (cafe founder, google advertising list provider), 10.21 until bail was judged arrested in Seoul detention center for 61 days
8.29 Prosecutor : 24 prosecuted (including 1 minor)
9.17 The Court : Start of trial of first instances (18 trials, one trial per week)
2009.10 The Court : Chief justice,Shin Youngchul unfair intervention during candlelight vigil trials
2009. 2.19 The Court : Justice department of first instances, all 24 found guiltily charged 10 months prison with 2 year probation
5.11~12.18 The Court : 5 court of appeals, Least, 10months prison with 2 year probation. Found guilty.
12.18~ The Court : 12.18 the accused and the prosecutor both appealed Still pending in the appeals
* 21administrative staffs of the cafe including a high school student and three others including an MBC investigative writer are prosecuted
6. Political oppression of free speech
After President‘s remark ―Internet could be poisonous? about the KPCO‘s boycott against the advertisement, there was unjust chain of pressure for investigation connecting Chojoongdong-economic circle-ruling party-Ministiry of Justice, and the public prosecutors carried out an intense investigation including travel ban, seizure, and arrest warrant request all without an official charge.
Also, according to the judge in the court of first instance, ?two judges who have been criticized by The Chosun Ilbo et al. regarding former cases‘ were excluded for this case. Excluding the two judges by discretion because they were mentioned in The Chosun Ilbo‘s article is a clear violation of the defendants‘ right to have fair trial and a unjust political action that gives The Chosun Ilbo a way to avoid the judges they dislike.
Thus, the conviction of KPCO is a decision made under the prosecutors‘ unreasonable investigation and the president of court‘s unlawful interference with the trial and a political oppression of free speech and consumer movement.
7. Serious threat to freedom of speech
The postings made as a part of KPCO‘s boycott was deleted and the prosecutors carried out an intense investigation, which ended up and a conviction at the court.
Minerva was arrested and prosecuted for posting a critical remark on the government‘s economic policy. Also, four internet users who wrote most viewed postings on Agora, an internet forum, were charged under business interference for having manipulated the view.
As a result of these series of events, the freedom of speech online in Korea was seriously violated and reduced. The reduction emerged in two ways; 1) the decline in both quantity and quality of internet expressive activity 2) cyber refugees who changed their sphere of activity to foreign websites, such as Google or Yahoo.
People stopped writing one at all, or do a self-censoring when writing. Not only that, many internet users delete their posting made in the past.
In order to enjoy some freedom of speech, the internet users became cyber refugees who no longer uses the services provided by domestic internet business, but moved to that of foreign websites that are free from the influence of Korean government.
People started posting Ad lists on Google. The Ad lists deleted by Daum were not deleted on Google.
Such phenomenon appeared not only on online postings but for private emails. Many citizens changed their email to Google, after seeing the confiscation of all information from email, unrelated to the case, during the course of investigation, All 24 people prosecuted from KPCO changed the email to Google as well.
Regarding such events in Korea, Foreign Policy, a U.S magazine specializing in foreign policy, selected Korea as a country that censors the internet along with four other countries on March 25, 2009. It reported that ―Korea is a leading IT country with the over 90% internet subscription, whose governmental regulation on internet is also at the top level.?
On 11th March, 2010, AP reported that the Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF) categorized Korea as monitoring country on internet censorship. RSF reasoned that Korea threatened anonymity and had strict regulations triggering self-censorship. This organization lamented that compared to October last year, press freedom index has fallen from 22 to 69.
2010-04-27
