Here is another example of South Korea’s laws that can be used to restrict free speech:
The poster by artist Lee Ha depicting former President Chun Doo-hwan holding a check for 290,000 won (US$250)
Lee Ha gets two year suspended sentence over poster that satirized former President Chun Doo-hwan
The Supreme Court said on Dec. 11 that it was upholding a court ruling issuing a suspended 100,000-won (US$85) fine to an artist accused of violating the Minor Offenses Act by putting up wall posters satirizing former President Chun Doo-hwan.
The sentence suspension system allows those accused of minor infractions to avoid punishment if two years pass without a sentence.Political pop artist Lee Ha (real name Lee Byeong-ha), 47, was indicted for putting up 55 of the posters in the area around Chun’s residence in the Yeonhui neighborhood of Seoul early on the morning of May 17, 2012, the eve of the anniversary of the 1980 Gwangju Democratization Movement. The images showed Chun dressed in prison clothes and handcuffs and carrying a check for 290,000 won (US$250), which was all the money he said he had at time, despite his corruption while president from 1980-88. [Hankyoreh]
