In 1988...

On Thursday Nov. 12, 1987, the opposition leader Kim Dae-Jung, whose picture had been banned from the newspapers and who for many years was under house arrest, launched his candidacy for the presidency of the Republic of Korea at a large gathering in Seoul’s Cultural Centre. The rally was not interfered with by riot police as countless opposition demonstrations had been before the watershed date of June 29, 1987,when in response to widespread protests, Mr Roh Tae-Woo, of the ruling Democratic Justice Party, announced direct elections for the presidency.

The initial focus of the protests was the cover-up over the torture and death of a student, Park Jong-Chol, at the hands of the police in January 1987. It was the decision of some newspapers to break censorship regulations and report on the student’s death which is now believed to have been the turning point.

The most striking insight into government manipulation of the press was provided at the end of 1986, when the magazine Mal, published by a group of banned journalists, reported in great detail the secret daily instructions supplied by the government to the media about what they should and should not report… In August 1987 the government ceased to issue daily guidelines, but was said to be relying on self-censorship by editors especially on coverage of North Korea. Read more...

In 2008...

South Korea, officially known as the Republic of Korea, is a democracy with a thriving economy governed on the basis of checks and balances between the executive, legislative and judicial branches. The country no longer features in international news coverage for its oppressive military politics and is rarely criticised for human rights violations.

‘Political rights and civil liberties in South Korea are relatively well protected, and more protected now than at any time in the past. The news media enjoy freedom, particularly considering the legal, political and economic pressures they face.’

South Korea’s democratic politics are characterised by the increasingly legal approach to reforms, with citizens and the government turning to the courts to resolve disputes rather than other mechanisms. For example, in 2004 the Constitutional Court overturned the National Assembly’s decision to impeach President Roh Moo-hyun.

Political rights and civil liberties in South Korea are relatively well protected, and more protected now than at any time in the past. The news media enjoy freedom, particularly considering the legal, political and economic pressures they face. It appears unlikely that the government will systematically or institutionally violate freedom of speech and the press as it did before the 1987 ‘people’s power’ revolution. These rights are, however, violated from time to time through the enforcement of various statutes and regulations.

A notable development in South Korea is cyber-journalism. ‘Citizen reporters’ of the online news service OhmyNews challenge the traditional news media’s agenda. According to Dan Gillmor, author of We the Media: Grassroots Journalism by the People, for the People, OhmyNews citizen journalism turns the 20th century ‘journalism-as-lecture model – in which organisations tell the audience what the news is and the audience either buys it or doesn’t – into something bottom-up, interactive, and democratic’.

Legal and Regulatory Framework

The Constitution guarantees freedom of speech and the press as a basic right of citizens, with prior censorship banned, but qualifies free expression. Article 21(4) provides that ‘neither speech nor the press shall violate the honour or rights of other persons nor undermine public morals or social ethics. Should speech or the press violate the honour or rights of other persons, claims may be made for the damage resulting therefrom.’ The Constitution also provides for legislation governing news services and the broadcast media.

Three special statutes regulate the media: the Newspaper Act, the Press Arbitration Act and the Broadcast Act. The Newspaper Act of 2005 requires the print media to be registered. A court can revoke registration if the periodical’s contents flout the original purpose of publication or if they are obscene or ‘seriously’ infringe public morals and social ethics. No foreigner, foreign government or foreign organisation can publish periodicals. To protect the interests of readers, the Newspaper Act requires periodicals and Internet newspapers to allow readers to participate in their editorial decision-making.

The Press Arbitration Act of 2005 empowers the Press Arbitration Commission to resolve conflict between the news media on the one hand, and individuals, corporations and government agencies on the other. It provides for rights of correction and reply for those who have been injured by factual news reporting, although the question of whether the story is true or false is not relevant to determining whether the right of reply applies. Only those who have a legitimate interest in correcting the story may claim these rights. Claims will be rejected where not factually supported or if they relate to commercial interests. These provisions are not applicable to reporting on open government proceedings or open court trials.

The Broadcast Act of 2000 covers not only terrestrial broadcasting but also cable and satellite broadcasting and broadcast programme providers. It stipulates viewers’ right to participate in broadcasters’ programming decisions. For this, broadcasters must have a viewers committee in place, whose feedback must be complied with unless there are ‘special reasons’.

Broadcast licensing is required. Currently, broadcasting licences are granted for three years, renewable. Only South Korean citizens and entities owned by citizens may obtain a licence. Licences are denied to individuals with criminal records. The Korean Broadcasting Commission, an administrative agency, is in charge of determining broadcasting policies. The Commission can impose corrective actions upon broadcasting licensees for ignoring viewers’ interests or for violating their licence requirements, among other reasons.

Various laws restrict the content of what may be published or broadcast. The National Security Act has been widely criticised for being so ambiguous that it can allow the authorities to punish seditious, not necessarily security-threatening, speech.

South Korean law recognises defamation as both a crime and a civil wrong. Punishment for defamation under the Criminal Code varies, depending on whether the allegedly defamatory statement is true or false. The Criminal Code distinguishes between libel (written defamation) and slander (oral defamation), punishing the former more severely. To constitute criminal libel, the statement must be published with intent to defame. The Criminal Code immunises a defendant if the contentious statement is true and made in the public interest. Defamation of the dead is criminal only if it is false.

The Civil Code provides for both monetary and non-monetary forms of redress for injury to reputation, the latter, for example, in the form of an order to retract the defamatory statement. Injunctions may be issued to prevent the publication of allegedly libellous material.

The Official Information Disclosure Act of 1996 is one of the laws that make the government increasingly transparent. It obligates public institutions to allow the public access to government records. It applies to every citizen. Requests for information by foreigners require a presidential decree. Access to government records is presumed unless they fall into one of eight categories of exempted records: these categories include government records that are classified under other laws or to protect national security, trials and ongoing criminal investigations, private information and trade secrets. The law provides for administrative court review of any refusal to disclose information.

The Administrative Procedures Act of 1996 facilitates to a limited extent public participation in government proceedings. When a formal hearing on an administrative office’s action is requested, the hearing may be open when the parties themselves make such a request or the President of the hearing finds it necessary. The hearings may be closed to the public ‘when there is a risk that the interest of the public or third parties may be severely injured’.

The Personal Information Act of 1993 was the first statute in South Korea to protect individuals from the government’s improper release of personal information. The law prohibits government agencies from gathering personal information about citizens that may ‘substantially’ infringe their freedom of belief and thought. Under the law, individuals can inspect and, where relevant, correct their own records.

Political Expression

‘Political speech is accorded more protection than any other speech in South Korea. The notorious anti-State defamation provision of the Criminal Code was abrogated in 1988. Free and fair elections are now well established, and opposition parties are vociferous in their criticism of those in power.’

Political speech is accorded more protection than any other speech in South Korea. The notorious anti-State defamation provision of the Criminal Code was abrogated in 1988. Free and fair elections are now well established, and opposition parties are vociferous in their criticism of those in power.

The Official Election Act of 1994 bans online dissemination of potentially defamatory falsehoods and information about the private lives of candidates. It also prohibits publication of public opinion polls throughout the campaign period and on election day. This prohibition also applies to mock elections and popularity votes that predict which individual or party will win the election.

Authors must be identified by their real names before Internet news media may allow messages endorsing or opposing political candidates or their parties to be posted on their bulletin boards or chat rooms. Where such attribution is absent, Internet news media must delete the message immediately.

News Media

At present, there are few extra-legal barriers to periodical registration, a revolutionary change from the pre-1987 era when the government froze newspaper and magazine registrations. If the application satisfies the minimum statutory requirements, newspaper registration is an automatic procedure. The number of periodicals registered as of May 2006 was 7,935, including 183 daily newspapers, two wire services, 2,519 weeklies and 403 Internet newspapers. The daily newspapers include 36 specialist publications focusing on, among other things, economics, science, food and drugs, law and sports. The main general daily newspapers are the conservative ‘big three’ – Chosun, Joongang and Dong-A Ilbo. Since its founding in 1988, the centre-left Hankyoreh Shinmun has become a major alternative to the establishment newspapers.

In March 2006, 58 over-the-air radio and television broadcasting stations and 170 cable and satellite television stations were operating in South Korea. The public broadcasting stations – Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) and Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) – have 37 local stations across the country. Eleven local television stations are independently owned. Satellite broadcasting is provided by the Korea Digital Satellite Broadcasting and the TU Media Corporation, both in Seoul.

A select group of print and broadcasting media companies is predominant, reflecting the government’s open marketplace of ideas approach to freedom of the press. Several press statutes illustrate the government’s commitment to diversifying the media market while reducing actual or perceived media concentration. The cross-ownership clause of the Newspaper Act, for example, prohibits the simultaneous ownership of broadcasting stations, newspapers and news agencies. In 2004, to stem the print media’s concentration in Seoul, the government passed the Regional Newspaper Act to help develop regional newspapers through supportive measures, thereby promoting diverse public opinions and the balanced development of local communities. The law puts in place a development fund for regional newspapers to improve their management and distribution and to support their computerised database.

The Broadcast Act forbids anyone from owning more than 30 per cent of the stocks of a terrestrial broadcasting licensee or a news broadcasting programme provider. Further, the corporate owner of a daily newspaper or a news agency cannot own stock or equity shares in a cable broadcasting or satellite broadcasting company. Likewise, it is illegal to concurrently operate a terrestrial broadcaster, a cable television broadcaster and a satellite broadcaster. Moreover, the Broadcast Act prohibits a terrestrial broadcaster, a cable television broadcaster or a satellite broadcaster from owning another terrestrial broadcaster that runs a digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB) service, another cable broadcasting service or another satellite broadcasting service, respectively. Similarly, a broadcast programme provider cannot operate another programme provider or own stocks in the other provider beyond what a presidential decree permits. The continuing operation of the Yonhap News Agency as the de facto sole news agency stands in sharp contrast to the government’s stated commitment to media diversity. The News Communication Act of 2003 was upheld because the law enables Yonhap to safeguard South Korea’s sovereignty of news information and to eliminate the information imbalance among people while strengthening the nation’s capacity for favourable publicity abroad.

New Technologies

South Korea is one of the most computer-savvy nations in the world, with more than 70 per cent of its population regularly connecting to the Internet. More than 75 per cent of all households subscribe to broadband Internet and by 2008 nearly 40 million citizens (80 per cent of the population) are expected to have broadband-connected mobile handsets. A recent survey indicated that 53.5 per cent of the population use the mobile Internet, more than any other country. Currently, there are more than 42 million cell phones operating in a country with a population of 48 million.

‘The cutting-edge Internet technology of South Korea has contributed to the emergence of ‘grassroots online journalism’. OhmyNews, a free online news service in Seoul, epitomises this.’

The cutting-edge Internet technology of South Korea has contributed to the emergence of ‘grassroots online journalism’. OhmyNews, a free online news service in Seoul, epitomises this. At present, about 50,000 citizen reporters submit about 200 news and feature stories a day, which a professional staff fact-checks and edits before posting online. The social and journalistic impact of the Internet newspaper has decreased and its readership has fallen considerably in recent years, largely because many mainstream media have adopted citizen journalism.

The government occasionally uses the National Security Act to punish allegedly subversive online speech. In July 2003, for example, two men were arrested for possessing a book about communism and for downloading Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto and other materials from the Internet. Also, the government resorts to the Telecommunications Business Act for restricting Internet Service Providers (ISPs). Yet enforcement of these and similar laws tends to be sporadic. Instead of arresting those who might violate the National Security Act or the Telecommunications Business Act, the government filters the Internet to block pornographic and other ‘sensitive’ websites.

Repression of Media Workers

Few journalists are killed or detained these days in connection with their news reporting. Criminal libel actions can result in jail terms for journalists, but they are the exception, not the rule. In 1999, the Constitutional Court stated that criminal libel law should be applied only with caution to the media. The Court recognised the negative effect of criminal law on the public’s right to know through the news media.

Media Censorship

The constitutional ban on prior censorship targets administrative actions, leaving in place the possibility of judicial injunctions against free expression. The unmistakable trend, however, is for courts to impose subsequent punishment rather than prior censorship. Before issuing an injunction against an allegedly libellous publication, courts ask whether it is credibly researched or whether there is a reasonable basis for trusting the article.

Other examples of prior restraint include the government’s authority to decide on importation and distribution of foreign publications and to require pre-broadcast review of commercial advertisements, and rules that allow the Korean Broadcasting Commission to evaluate the impartiality and public nature of broadcasts.

Art Censorship

Although the Constitution guarantees freedom of art for citizens, several laws, including the Criminal Code and the Basic Telecommunications Act, limit the dissemination of obscene material and may affect artistic expression.

Courts are aware that the vague provisions of various statutes may inhibit the creation of sexually explicit, but not obscene, material with an artistic value. The Constitutional Court distinguished obscenity (unprotected) from indecency (protected), defining the former as material that only appeals to prurient interests and that, taken as a whole, possesses no literary, artistic, scientific or political value. It defined indecency as ‘vulgar and coarse expression’, but not hardcore pornography. Protection of minors from indecent expression should not justify denying adults access to constitutionally protected non-obscene material. As the Court put it: ‘Don’t burn the house to roast the pig’.