South Korea Law Prohibits Praising North Korea
A reunified Korea is not likely to happen this century, but the two countries that were once one have a little more in common than you would think when it comes to outlawing basic human rights. The Associated Press (AP) reports that a South Korean man was recently charged with the crime of praising his cranky northern neighbors. And he's not the first by any means:
Since a conservative government took power in 2008, indictments have shot up under a South Korean security law that makes it a crime to praise, sympathize or cooperate with North Korea. More than 150 were questioned and 60 charged in 2010, up from 39 questioned and 36 charged in 2007, officials say.
In another sign of stepped-up enforcement, a South Korean government agency launched a team on Wednesday that will examine Facebook and Twitter posts and smartphone applications to cope with what it says is a growing volume of illicit content, including violations of the security law.
The National Security Law raises questions about freedom of expression in the otherwise democratic country, which ended decades of autocratic rule in the late 1980s. But calls from liberal politicians and activists to scrap or revise the law have so far come to nothing in a nation still wary of the North.
To be fair, three generations of the man's family will not be sent to a concentration camp, so I still know in which Korea I would rather reside. But even with the world's best example of what not to do in government right across those heavily mined miles of DMZ, South Korea has to be so governmental about (stupid, if the man really was praising North Korea) speech.
They say the best response to bad speech is more speech. The best South Korean response to anyone deluded enough to praise North Korea is to just point north. No need to "make war" on them as suggested by South Korean Prosecutor-General Han Sang-dae.
Reason on North Korea.