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Censorship in South Korea is implemented by various laws that were included in the constitution as well as acts passed by the National Assembly over the decades since 1948. These include the National Security Act, whereby the government may limit the expression of ideas that it perceives "praise or incite the activities of anti-state individuals or groups". [1] Censorship was particularly severe during the country's authoritarian era, with freedom of expression being non-existent, which lasted from 1948 to 1993.
However, ever since the inauguration of president Lee Myung-bak in 2008, South Korea has experienced a noticeable decline in freedom of expression for both journalists and the general public. [2] South Korea's status beginning in the 2011 Freedom of the Press report from Freedom House has declined from "Free" to "Partly Free", a status that has continued to the present, reflecting an increase in official censorship and government attempts to influence news and information content. [3]
During the presidency of Moon Jae-in, his administration further reinforced media censorship by snooping on SNI traffic. [4] His party also passed a law meant to control the narrative of historical topics during the country's military authoritarian era such as the Gwangju Massacre, topics related to the comfort women issue, as well as events that negatively implicates the government such as the Sinking of MV Sewol. [5]
The South Korean government has control in censorship over all media capable of reaching a wide audience. This includes television, print media, radio, film, theater, text messaging, instant messaging, video games, literature, and the Internet. The South Korean government asserts that it has the legal right to control the Internet's content within their territory and that their censorship rules do not infringe on their citizens' right to free speech. For example, the country bans pornography, and there exists a "cyber defamation law" which allows the authorities to crack down on comments deemed "hateful" without any reports from victims, with citizens being sentenced for such offenses. [6]
South Korea's government has had a hand in censorship of media within the country since it adopted the National Security Act in 1948. The law gave the government broad control over media in order to prevent any information deemed to be a threat to the government from dissemination to the public at large. [1] The newly established Republic of Korea government created the law in response to widespread unrest due to conflict between the right-wing anti-communist government and the people and far-left People's Committee. [7]
Originally, the law was enacted in opposition to specific North Korean forces, but it was later expanded to encapsulate any "anti-state" group seen as against the views of the government. [1] Importantly, the law allows the government to punish anyone who would "praise, encourage, disseminate or cooperate" with the efforts of a group deemed to be "anti-state" with up to 7 years in prison. [1] In addition, directly working with one of these groups results in a minimum jail sentence of one year. [1]
The law is still enforced even after South Korea underwent democratization during the 1990s. Amnesty International reported that 90 people were charged under the law in 2011, with some leading to imprisonment, a sharp increase by 95.6% between 2008 and 2011. It described the National Security Act as a tool to "harass and arbitrarily prosecute individuals and civil society organizations who are peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression, opinion and association." and to "remove people who are perceived to threaten established political views, to prevent people from taking part in discussions surrounding relations with North Korea." [8]
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After Park Chung Hee's military coup and subsequent rise to power in 1961, his regime invalidated the Constitution as well as the democratically elected legislature. Park used the implied threat of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to imprison and torture political enemies. [1] His regime targeted artists and politicians alike, jailing leaders who would later hold the office as president as well as writers such as Kim Chi-ha. [1] In 1975, Park's regime banned various music, citing "decadent" foreign influences. The ban included many American protest songs, folk ballads, and rock music. [9]
In addition, the Park regime ran a large campaign of film censorship. Scripts required approval by censor committees, and several viewings of the final version of the film were required to ensure that it represented the previously approved script. [10] Eliminating themes of rebellion, protest were the main focus of the censors. The censors also targeted any accurate depiction of the political or socio-economic climate. [10]
After Chun Doo-hwan assumed power in another military coup, he too declared martial law in response to widespread uprisings among the country's students. [1] He also took aim at South Korea's press, systematically sacking 937 members of the press while nationalizing the country's media outlets. [1] Due to foreign and domestic condemnation of Chun's policies and actions, a new Constitution was formed which guaranteed the freedom to organize into opposition parties. [1] Although the political climate liberalized slightly with the new Constitution, the regime continued to target perceived threats from North Korea with the powers granted by the National Security Law. [1]
During the early presidency of Roh Tae-woo, student uprisings continued in the face of apparent attempts by Roh to consolidate the new regime and extend his presidential term past the constitutional limit. [11] The protests specifically targeted the government's use of the National Security Act under the pretenses of curtailing North Korean influence in South Korean media. [1]
The dawn of the nineties brought about movements pushing for greater democracy and unification efforts for the Korean peninsula. [1] These forces sought to abolish the use of the National Security Law. [1] However, in the wake of the 1997 Asian financial crisis, student and worker protests were suppressed under the auspices of the National Security Law. [1]
In 2019, Korean Ministry of Gender Equality and Family proposed strict guidelines on their K-pop stars, essentially censoring most content deemed "unhealthy" by them, only to be met with strong opposition among fans of the genre. [12] The proposal was eventually withdrawn. In 2021 President Moon Jae-in's party introduced a law to control the narrative of historical topics, such as the Gwangju massacre, Japan's colonial rule of Korea, the comfort women, and the sinking of MV Sewol. Free speech advocates see this law as a means for the President to use censorship and history as political weapons. [5]
There is an active independent media that expresses a wide variety of views, de jure generally without restriction. However, under the National Security Law, the government may limit the expression at any given time of ideas that may "praise" or "incite" the "activities of antistate individuals or groups". The law also forbids citizens from reading any books published in North Korea. [13]
In a 2011 report, the UN special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion expressed concern about increased restrictions on freedom of expression in South Korea, citing laws that made defamation a crime and could ban books and control the dissemination of election or candidate information. [13] The rapporteur described the laws as "inherently harsh and [having a] disproportionate chilling effect".
South Korea is one of the few countries that explicitly prohibits any form of pornography. Pornographic websites, books, writings, films, magazines, photographs or other materials of a pornographic nature are illegal in South Korea. [14] Distribution of pornography is a felony, and can result in a fine or a prison sentence not exceeding one-year. [15] Since 2009, pornographic websites have been blocked by the South Korean government. In 2012 the Ministry of Public Administration and Security released statistics that cited 39.5% of South Korean children having experienced watching online pornography, with 14.2% of those who have viewed online pornography reportedly "wanting to imitate" it. [16] In 2019 the Korea Communications Standards Commission began blocking banned websites based on filtering of Server Name Indication. The KCC said their focus was "on blocking sites with child pornography, illegal films and gambling." [17]
South Korea's public libraries censor a plethora of subjects in their libraries - both online and in their physical collections. Examples of censored topics include: sexuality (including educational information about the subject), homosexuality, information about North Korea, violence, anti-government materials, and political discourse. [18]
The public libraries of South Korea also censor information via discriminating against who can use the library's public meeting spaces. If a person or group wants to use the space to meet to discuss any of the forbidden topics listed above, they are refused. [18]
The Constitutional Court of Korea upheld the Ministry of National Defense's order to allow the banning of certain books such as Ha-Joon Chang's Bad Samaritans and Hans-Peter Martin's The Global Trap from soldiers' hands in October 2010, despite a petition made by a group of military judicial officers protesting against the order in 2008. [19]
The South Korean military cracked down on soldiers who have "critical apps" installed in their smartphones; allegedly marking a popular South Korean podcast, Naneun Ggomsuda, as anti-government content. [20] [21]
On 15 February 2011, a Handong Global University professor was penalized for criticizing Lee Myung-bak and the university chancellor. [22] Four teachers were arrested in 2020 for possessing North Korean books in internal study group. [23]
While South Korea has relatively good internet and broadband penetration, its citizens do not have access to a free and unfiltered internet. South Korea's government maintains a broad-ranging approach toward the regulation of specific online content and imposes a substantial level of censorship on election-related discourse and on a large number of websites that the government deems subversive or socially harmful. [24] Such policies are particularly pronounced with regard to anonymity on the Internet.
In 2011 the OpenNet Initiative classified Internet censorship in South Korea as pervasive in the conflict/security area, as selective in the social area, and found no evidence of filtering in the political or Internet tools areas. [24] In 2011 South Korea was included on Reporters Without Borders list of countries Under Surveillance. [25] The Electronic Frontier Foundation has criticized the Korea Communications Standards Commission for proposing censorship of the blog of an internet free speech activist. [26] [27]
In September 2004, North Korea launched the Kim Il-sung Open University website. Also, South Korea has banned at least 31 sites considered sympathetic to North Korea through the use of IP blocking. [28] A man who praised North Korea on Twitter was arrested. [29]
In 2007, numerous bloggers were censored, arrested, and had their posts deleted by police for expressing criticism of, or even support for, certain presidential candidates. [30] Subsequently, in 2008, just before a new presidential election, new legislation that required all major internet portal sites to require identity verification of their users was put into effect. [31] A 51 year old South Korean novelist was arrested for praising North Korea on their personal blog in 2012. [32] 5 South Koreans were arrested for distributing pro-North material online in 2008 and 83 in 2011. [33] In 2011 a South Korean was arrested for posting 300 messages and 6 videos of pro-North content and sentenced for 10 months in jail. [34] In January 2012 a South Korean freedom-of-speech activist was arrested for retweeting a tweet from a North Korean account. [33] [35] A 53 year old South Korean blogger was arrested for demanding abolishment of an anti-communist National Security Law and for praising North Korea, he was sentenced to one year in prison. [36]
"Indecent" websites, such as those offering unrated games, any kind of pornography (not only child pornography), and gambling, are also blocked. Attempts to access these sites are automatically redirected to the warning page stating "This site is legally blocked by the government regulations." [37] Search engines are required to verify age for some keywords deemed inappropriate for minors. [38]
In 2021, South Korea's largest messenger app, KakaoTalk, began censoring real-time pornographic clips or 19+ video clips in open chat at the request of the government, and NetxHack.com, South Korea's most popular VPN reviewer, tested the system with dozens of users and found it to be flawed, with even scenes from G-rated anime and photos that shouldn't be objectionable to children being censored. [39]
In November 2010, a woman was sentenced to two years in prison for the possession of MP3s of instrumental music, on the grounds that the titles constituted praise of North Korea, notwithstanding the actual music's lack of lyrics. [40]
Songs that "stimulates sex desire or [are] sexually explicit to youth", "urges violence or crime to youth", or "glamorizes violence such as rape, and drugs" are classified as a "medium offensive to youth" by the Government Youth Commission. [41]
The Korea Communications Commission is a government agency that regulates TV, radio, and the Internet within South Korea. The National Security Law forbids citizens from listening to North Korean radio programs in their homes if the government determines that the action endangers national security or the basic order of democracy. These prohibitions are rarely enforced and viewing North Korean satellite telecasts in private homes is legal. [13]
The Lee Myung-bak government has been accused of extending its influence over the broadcast media by appointing former presidential aides and advisers to key positions at major media companies over the objections of journalists who sought to maintain those broadcasters' editorial independence. Under the Lee administration, approximately 160 journalists have been penalized for writing critical reports about government policies. [42]
Protests among workers in Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation, Korean Broadcasting System, and YTN in early 2012 have raised concerns about the biased pro-Lee Myung-bak government media practices, such as the ongoing usage of censorship, to the South Korean public. [43] [44]
Censorship of Japanese media in South Korea has been relaxed significantly since the 1990s, but as of 2017 the terrestrial broadcast of Japanese television or music remains restricted under the government's Communications Commission that the permission is necessary for nationwide media companies beforehand to broadcast Japanese musics and films. [45]
Film censorship in South Korea can be split into two major periods, the period of dictatorships and the period of heavy surveillance by the new military regime. [46]
In recent years, sexual scenes have been a major issue that pits filmmakers against the Korea Media Rating Board. Pubic hair and male or female genitalia are disallowed on the screen, unless they are digitally blurred. In rare cases extreme violence, obscene language, or certain portrayals of drug use may also be an issue. Korea has a five level rating systems; G (all), PG-12 (12-year+), PG-15 (15-year+), R-18 (18-year+), and Restricted. [47] [48]
Like many countries, some South Korean media have been affected by Chinese censorship abroad. For example, in 2016, Chinese embassy successfully lobbied to halt theatrical production by American Shen Yun company, affiliated with Falun Gong movement banned in China. [49]
China censors both the publishing and viewing of online material. Many controversial events are censored from news coverage, preventing many Chinese citizens from knowing about the actions of their government, and severely restricting freedom of the press. China's censorship includes the complete blockage of various websites, apps, video games, inspiring the policy's nickname, the Great Firewall of China, which blocks websites. Methods used to block websites and pages include DNS spoofing, blocking access to IP addresses, analyzing and filtering URLs, packet inspection, and resetting connections.
Internet censorship in Australia is enforced by both the country's criminal law as well as voluntarily enacted by internet service providers. The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has the power to enforce content restrictions on Internet content hosted within Australia, and maintain a blocklist of overseas websites which is then provided for use in filtering software. The restrictions focus primarily on child pornography, sexual violence, and other illegal activities, compiled as a result of a consumer complaints process.
Censorship in Taiwan was greatly relaxed when the state moved away from authoritarianism in 1987. Since then, the media has generally been allowed to broadcast political opposition. Today, the focus of censorship is slander and libel, cross-Strait relations, and national security.
Human rights in South Korea are codified in the Constitution of the Republic of Korea, which compiles the legal rights of its citizens. These rights are protected by the Constitution and include amendments and national referendum. These rights have evolved significantly from the days of military dictatorship to the current state as a constitutional democracy with free and fair elections for the presidency and the members of the National Assembly.
Censorship in Tunisia has been an issue since the country gained independence in 1956. Though considered relatively mild under President Habib Bourguiba (1957–1987), censorship and other forms of repression became common under his successor, President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Ben Ali was listed as one of the "10 Worst Enemies of the Press" by the Committee to Protect Journalists starting in 1998. Reporters Without Borders named Ben Ali as a leading "Predator of Press Freedom". However, the Tunisia Monitoring Group reports that the situation with respect to censorship has improved dramatically since the overthrow of Ben Ali in early 2011.
Censorship in the People's Republic of China is mandated by the PRC's ruling party, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It is one of the strictest censorship regimes in the world. The government censors content for mainly political reasons, such as curtailing political opposition, and censoring events unfavorable to the CCP, such as the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, pro-democracy movements in China, the persecution of Uyghurs in China, human rights in Tibet, Falun Gong, pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, and aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since Xi Jinping became the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party in 2012, censorship has been "significantly stepped up".
Censorship in Myanmar results from government policies in controlling and regulating certain information, particularly on religious, ethnic, political, and moral grounds.
Internet censorship is the legal control or suppression of what can be accessed, published, or viewed on the Internet. Censorship is most often applied to specific internet domains but exceptionally may extend to all Internet resources located outside the jurisdiction of the censoring state. Internet censorship may also put restrictions on what information can be made internet accessible. Organizations providing internet access – such as schools and libraries – may choose to preclude access to material that they consider undesirable, offensive, age-inappropriate or even illegal, and regard this as ethical behavior rather than censorship. Individuals and organizations may engage in self-censorship of material they publish, for moral, religious, or business reasons, to conform to societal norms, political views, due to intimidation, or out of fear of legal or other consequences.
Internet censorship in Morocco was listed as selective in the social, conflict/security, and Internet tools areas and as no evidence in the political area by the OpenNet Initiative (ONI) in August 2009. Freedom House listed Morocco's "Internet Freedom Status" as "Partly Free" in its 2018 Freedom on the Net report.
The Internet is accessible to the majority of the population in Egypt, whether via smartphones, internet cafes, or home connections. Broadband Internet access via VDSL is widely available. Under the rule of Hosni Mubarak, Internet censorship and surveillance were severe, culminating in a total shutdown of the Internet in Egypt during the 2011 Revolution. Although Internet access was restored following Mubarak's order, government censorship and surveillance have increased since the 2013 coup d'état, leading the NGO Freedom House to downgrade Egypt's Internet freedom from "partly free" in 2011 to "not free" in 2015, which it has retained in subsequent reports including the most recent in 2021. The el-Sisi regime has ramped up online censorship in Egypt. The regime heavily censors online news websites, which has prompted the closure of many independent news outlets in Egypt.
The print, broadcast and online mass media in Burma has undergone strict censorship and regulation since the 1962 Burmese coup d'état. The constitution provides for freedom of speech and the press; however, the government prohibits the exercise of these rights in practice. Reporters Without Borders ranked Burma 174th out of 178 in its 2010 Press Freedom Index, ahead of just Iran, Turkmenistan, North Korea, and Eritrea. In 2015, Burma moved up to 144th place, ahead of many of its ASEAN neighbours such as Singapore, as a result of political changes in the country.
Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments, private institutions, and other controlling bodies.
Freedom of speech is the concept of the inherent human right to voice one's opinion publicly without fear of censorship or punishment. "Speech" is not limited to public speaking and is generally taken to include other forms of expression. The right is preserved in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and is granted formal recognition by the laws of most nations. Nonetheless, the degree to which the right is upheld in practice varies greatly from one nation to another. In many nations, particularly those with authoritarian forms of government, overt government censorship is enforced. Censorship has also been claimed to occur in other forms and there are different approaches to issues such as hate speech, obscenity, and defamation laws.
Censorship in Bangladesh refers to the government censorship of the press and infringement of freedom of speech. Article 39 of the constitution of Bangladesh protects free speech.
Internet censorship in South Korea is prevalent, and contains some unique elements such as the blocking of pro-North Korea websites, and to a lesser extent, Japanese websites, which led to it being categorized as "pervasive" in the conflict/security area by OpenNet Initiative. South Korea is also one of the few developed countries where pornography is largely illegal, with the exception of social media websites which are a common source of legal pornography in the country. Any and all material deemed "harmful" or subversive by the state is censored. The country also has a "cyber defamation law", which allow the police to crack down on comments deemed "hateful" without any reports from victims, with citizens being sentenced for such offenses.
There is medium internet censorship in France, including limited filtering of child pornography, laws against websites that promote terrorism or racial hatred, and attempts to protect copyright. The "Freedom on the Net" report by Freedom House has consistently listed France as a country with Internet freedom. Its global ranking was 6 in 2013 and 12 in 2017. A sharp decline in its score, second only to Libya was noted in 2015 and attributed to "problematic policies adopted in the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack, such as restrictions on content that could be seen as 'apology for terrorism,' prosecutions of users, and significantly increased surveillance."
The Kingdom of Bahrain is deemed ‘Not Free’ in terms of Net Freedom and Press Freedom by Freedom House. The 2016 World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders ranked Bahrain 162nd out of 180 countries.
This list of Internet censorship and surveillance in Asia provides information on the types and levels of Internet censorship and surveillance that is occurring in countries in Asia
This list of Internet censorship and surveillance in the Americas provides information on the types and levels of Internet censorship and surveillance that is occurring in countries in the Americas.
This list of Internet censorship and surveillance in Africa provides information on the types and levels of Internet censorship and surveillance that is occurring in countries in Africa.
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