Tag: libel laws

Another example of how the defamation laws in South Korea are used to silence political opposition:

A conservative commentator has been arrested on libel charges regarding his claim that media reports that led to the ouster of former President Park Geun-hye were manipulated.

The Seoul Central District Court on Wednesday issued an arrest warrant for Byun Hee-jae, citing a risk of the suspect destroying evidence.

Byun is accused of spreading false information through his book “The Curse of Sohn Suk-hee” and his online articles, arguing that local cable channel JTBC manipulated the content of a tablet PC and made it look like it was used by Choi Soon-sil, a long-time confidante of the former president.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office filed for the warrant last Friday, accusing Byun of slandering JTBC, its president Sohn Suk-hee and its reporters without reasonable grounds.

The tablet PC was used as critical evidence proving that Choi had interfered in state affairs, leading to Park’s impeachment last year.  [KBS World News]

For those that don’t remember the tablet was mysteriously found in an office once rented by Park Geun-hye’s friend Choi Soon-shil who was at the center of the scandal.  The finding of the tablet PC was the key news that created the momentum to impeach former President Park Geun-hye.

JTBC only admitted where it found the tablet after changing its story multiple times about the origin of the tablet.  If it was in fact found in the old office I always found it interesting how it was conveniently left with such sensitive information on it and no password protection.  Additionally the Korean courts did not consider the tablet as evidence during the trial against President Park because it was tampered with.

Just another example that South Korea is a “rule by law” not a “rule of law” country:

An appeals court in Seoul overturned a lower-court acquittal of a professor and fined her on Friday, finding her guilty of charges that she defamed victims of Japan’s wartime sexual slavery with her book.

The Seoul High Court handed down a fine of 10 million won ($8,846) to Park Yu-ha, a Sejong University professor, who was charged with defaming sexual slavery victims, known as “comfort women,” with her controversial book “Comfort Women of the Empire.”

Victims and other critics claimed the book disputes the coerciveness of the “comfort women” system.

Friday’s verdict overturned the lower court’s decision in January that she is not guilty because academic freedom is a basic right guaranteed by the Constitution.  [Korea Times]

This whole controversy shows that in South Korea if you say or write something unpopular the government can use the defamation law to prosecute you to shut you up even if what you right is true.

In regards to the comfort women issue I recommend reading my prior post on this subject.

The Washington Post unsurprisingly glossed over the real issue with its claims of dictatorship coming back to South Korea.  You can claim President Park is a dictator when people begin to disappear to never be seen again or in the case of Kim Dae-jung kidnapped and nearly thrown overboard on a boat before being rescued by a US intervention.  The real issue here is not dictatorship, but Korea’s libel laws.  The libel law has been used for years to shut people up and that is what is going on here.  Heck Kim Jong-un’s own aunt is using South Korea libel laws to try and silence North Korean defectors.  What is going on in South Korea is nothing new and hardly a sign of impending dictatorship:

Hwang Yun-joo couldn’t make it to the huge anti-government protest that rocked central Seoul in the middle of November because he had to work in his woodshop. So he did what he thought was the next best thing: He printed out some posters he found on Facebook and displayed them in his shop window.

“It’s too much! We can’t take it anymore!” one declared. “Dictator’s daughter,” read another, under a picture of President Park Geun-hye, whose father, Park Chung-hee, seized power in a military coup in 1961 and served as president for almost two decades. The word “daughter” was crossed out, suggesting that Park Geun-hye was not just the daughter of a dictator, but one in her own right.

Then, last weekend, a police vehicle pulled up, and at least five officers got out and started taking photos of Hwang’s shop and its posters, Hwang recounted in an interview last week. They came in and told him the posters included false information and libeled the president, he said.

“When an officer took off one of my posters, I got very angry, so I told them to leave,” said Hwang, 44. He said he put up the posters partly because he was angry about Park’s plan to replace the array of history textbooks for middle- and high-school students, written by independent scholars, with one authorized text, as was the practice during her father’s time.

Critics say that does not allow for multiple interpretations of South Korea’s recent past, and some allege it is an attempt to rewrite history, including the draconian period during which Park’s father brutally suppressed dissent while bringing about the astonishingly fast industrialization of South Korea.

“I’m frustrated with the immaturity of democracy in South Korea,” he said.  [Washington Post]

You can read the rest at the link.