Satirist’s ‘KFC’ Podcast is Litmus Test for South Korean Free Speech

Promotion image of new podcast ‘KFC', fair use.

Kim Ou-joon is a satirist and prominent critic of the administration of former South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, and was the driving force behind the groundbreaking podcast “Naneun Ggomsuda“. In March, he returned to the airwaves after being acquitted on charges of defaming President Park Geun-hye last fall. His new show, “KFC” [ko] (supposedly named in reference to one the of president's nicknames being “Chicken”) has begun airing regularly on Hankyoreh TV, and marks the next test in determining how much leeway the Park administration will give to its critics.

Although South Korea is widely regarded as one of the leading democracies in Asia, recent criticism from a variety of international human rights organizations over the government’s treatment of dissenting voices has led to concerns that the country is lagging behind other nations in freedom of expression.

In particular, criminal defamation laws remain a powerful weapon in government suppression of free speech, a point made repeatedly in a 2011 report from the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Reporters Without Borders. According to a report from UC San Diego professors Stephan Haggard and Jong-sung You, criminal defamation cases have increased five-fold, from roughly 2,000 annual cases at the end of the Kim Dae-jung administration to over 10,000 at the end of the Lee presidency.  

This rise in defamation indictments has corresponded with a dramatic uptick in the amount of web content blocked or deleted by the government’s internet regulation body, the Korea Communications and Standards Commission (KCSC). Figures easily accessed on the KCSC website show that the removal of objectionable content – which covers a range of categories from obscenity and defamation to national security issues – has skyrocketed since the agency’s creation, from roughly 10,000 blocked or deleted websites and Internet postings in 2008 to more than 85,000 in 2013. Much of this activity has been conducted in accordance with the country’s Network Act, which broadly defines “illegal online content” and criminalizes the online circulation of “unlawful information.”  

In addition to disturbing trends regarding criminal defamation and Internet regulation (some might say censorship), indictments under the country’s controversial National Security Law have begun to inch upward, from 32 in 2008 to 103 last year [ko]. A rise in Cold War-era rhetoric has revived national security as a salient issue in Korean politics and forced critics on the left to be more careful about what they say lest they be branded “pro-North Korea sympathizers‘. 

In 2012, Amnesty International issued a scathing report about the National Security Law, correctly pointing out that the vague and arbitrary nature of the use of Article 7 produces a chilling effect on those who question government policy. This clause forbids praising the North Korean leadership, joining an “anti-government” organization, engaging in anti-state activities, or possessing or distributing North Korean media or literature. The fact that many of these critics are now being charged under defamation statutes rather than National Security Law violations is small consolation.

So far, many of the president's critics have been wary of her position on these issues, and she has done little to assuage these concerns. As 2013 drew to a close, the country was wracked by a series of strikes, mainly over fears that the government was planning to privatize a new rail line. Alluding to the causes of the strike, the president blamed social media for spreading “wild rumors”and stated that the government had to act “quickly and aggressively against groups who distort the situation”. The fact that this statement was made a day after the government’s official broadcast regulation arm targeted several media outlets – including the online sites Gobal and Newstapa – for producing reports which the agency termed “not real news” raised fears that the government may be preparing to step up its efforts to regulate both Internet content and broadcast media.

It remains to be seen how aggressive the president will be in targeting critics of her administration. In that sense, the KFC host, who has already drawn Park’s ire once earlier in her term, may now be playing the role of another type of bird: the canary in the coal mine.

Written byGeoffrey Fattig

Posted 7 April 2014 4:36 GMT

Ex-gov't officials charged with spreading false info about 2012 presidential election

SEOUL, April 3 (Yonhap) -- Two former government officials, including a former employee of the national election watchdog, were indicted Thursday on charges of spreading false information that the 2012 presidential election was rigged, prosecutors said.

In a publication, the suspects allegedly claimed that the National Election Commission (NEC) had systemically rigged the presidential election by deliberately concealing a malfunction in the electronic ballot machines and that as a result a "fake president" was elected, prosecutors said.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office probing the case alleged that the two, including former NEC employee Han Young-soo, defamed other NEC employees by spreading such fabricated facts.

"The nature of suspects' crime is very corrupt, as they maliciously distorted the work of NEC employees and misled the facts," said a prosecutors probing the case.

The 296-page publication, issued right after the Dec. 19 vote, sold nearly 10,000 copies in bookstores and another 2,500 copies were distributed, prosecutors said.

"There is a high possibility that the publication may bring about social chaos, as it even makes a reference to toppling the current administration," the prosecutor said.

The prosecution office said it has also charged a 32-year-old civilian, surnamed Choi, for allegedly acting in a disorderly manner at a court hearing of the two suspects.

President Park Geun-hye, the then ruling party candidate, eventually won the election against opposition candidate Moon Jae-in by a margin of 1 million votes.

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Candidate nomination, spy agency scandal swamp Assembly session

The parliamentary interpellation session kicked off Thursday with the ruling and opposition parties clashing over key issues in the June 4 local elections. 

The main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy honed in on the candidate nomination system for local elections, and again urged President Park Geun-hye to follow through on the issue. Although Park had pledged to abolish the system as part of her political reform measures, the ruling party has since moved in the opposite direction, saying that abolishing candidate nominations may be unconstitutional. 

“Who decided to backtrack on abolishing the nomination system?” the NPAD’s Rep. You Sung-yop said, grilling Prime Minister Chung Hong-won on the issue. You was referring to the ruling party’s decision to forgo candidate nominations in the April by-elections but to reintroduce them for the local elections. 

“The president, who is a symbol of principles and trust, should request that the Saenuri Party uphold the pledge, and if the party refuses she should leave the party.” 

You went on to press Chung, asking whether he would advise the president to request that the system be abolished or else leave the ruling party. 

Rep. Song Ho-chang, one of NPAD co-chairman Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo’s closest associates, backed up his party’s demands by pointing out the negative aspects of the system and referring to it as “modern day slavery.” 

Under the candidate nomination system, a political party’s leaders exert nearly absolute influence on the selection process.

Citing current and past examples of bribery and figures close to the president interfering in the candidate selection process, Song said that parliamentarians’ power over the nominations was the fundamental cause of candidacy-related corruption. 

Along with the candidate nomination system, developments surrounding Yoo Woo-seong proved a key issue in Thursday’s session. 

The NPAD pressed its demands for a thorough investigation, the scope of which would include National Intelligence Service chief Nam Jae-joon. 

Rep. Park Beom-kye of the main opposition raised doubts about the results of the prosecution’s investigation, saying that the highest level of the spy agency should be probed. Yoo is a former Seoul City official of North Korean-Chinese decent accused of spying for Pyongyang. In appealing a lower court’s acquittal of Yoo, the prosecution used forged Chinese government documents provided by the NIS.

Ruling party lawmakers, in contrast, focused on the charges faced by Yoo.

“The primary issue is determining whether Yoo is a spy, and the investigation into evidence forgery comes next,” Saenuri Party’s Rep. Kim Do-eup said. 

Kim also claimed that a large number of ethnic Chinese living in North Korea operate as middlemen in transferring money into the North and gathering information for Pyongyang’s authorities. 

By Choi He-suk (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)

Ex-officials charged with spreading false information about election

Two former government officials, including a former employee of the national election watchdog, were indicted Thursday on charges of spreading false information that the 2012 presidential election was rigged, prosecutors said. 

In a publication, the suspects allegedly claimed that the National Election Commission had systemically rigged the presidential election by deliberately concealing a malfunction in the electronic ballot machines and that as a result a “fake president” was elected, prosecutors said.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office probing the case alleged that the two, including former NEC employee Han Young-soo, defamed other NEC employees by spreading such fabricated facts. (Yonhap)