Is South Korea regressing?

[jwlashta]

I came across this article from the Hankyoreh. A man known by the screen name "Minerva" was arrested January 8th for spreading "false rumors" on the internet which attacked the South Korean government's economic policies. I'm sure that such a law was not recently invented; however, the amount of gossip mongering that goes on on popular Korean websites such as Daum and Naver should lead you to believe that many more arrests of this nature would occur. There is one problem, however: the gossip on said websites focuses primarily on celebrities (both Korean and international).

The article is below:


It has been found that a 30-year-old unemployed man is the anonymous Internet pundit “Minerva,” whose identity has been the subject of intense speculation for the past few months.


The prosecution arrested the man known as Minerva on Thursday on charges of spreading false rumors on the Internet....


Minerva quickly became famous for his sharp comments on the government’s ill-fated economic policies and the media’s incorrect news reports by using layman’s terms and statistics to make his predictions. His Web posts got tens of thousands of hits and were copied to countless Internet bulletin boards and blogs. Internet users often described Minerva’s posts as an essential reference for discussing economic issues....


On November 13 of last year, Minerva said that he would not comment on South Korean economic issues anymore amid reports that the government knew his identity and was considering taking punitive action against him. At the time, Minerva posted a statement on the Agora section of the Daum site, which said, “From now on, I’m deleting ‘Korea’ from my heart.”

<http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/332232.html>






I love Korea and have lived here for four years now, but the freedoms of speech and open demonstration are essentially given lip service and can land anyone who exercises these rights in hot water. The police force is largely a tool of the government used to exert its control and stifle any opposition. During the mass protests against the lifting of the ban on imported US beef, my (Korean) co-worker attended one such protest and decided not to protest again out of fear that he would be arrested and lose his job as a teacher.

[davidpdx]

1. No, I don't think Korea is regressing

I do think the current administration's policies are draconian and strongly favor businesses. This one incident alone can't really be judged as a regression I think. Korea has a long history of human rights issues in its back ground.

The entire US Beef protests were totally blown out of proportion by the media which lied to people (this was in fact proved). Koreans like to protest over and complain over things which are absolutely dumb and this one was one of the dumbest. Maybe they should instead protest over the suspended sentence of the Korean husband who raped his Filipino wife. The court admonished her for not communicating with him. Yes, the court blamed the wife for being raped. Maybe you ought to ask your coworker about that one and see what he says.

[rpannier]

2. I've lived in Korea for around a decade

Yes, it is regressing.

The governent is forcing out people from governent who don't share their views -- these people are not political appointees. They're just bureaucrats.

They're reworking the textbooks to paint the totalitarian governments of the 50's and 80's as people who SAVED Korea

They referred to the pro-Democracy Demonstrators of the early 60's and 80's as agitators

They reworked the property tax laws that lowered the property taxes of the richest 0.5% of Koreans on the basis that it violated the Human Rights of the Wealthy

They are/have been aggressively going after bloggers who criticize the government on the internet

The government ignores the opposition of the vast majority of Koreans to the Canal project, which it appears they are going to build.

They fired a group of teachers for taking positions on the new government testing for schools because the teachers opposed them and in the end the teachers had not broken any law

Your dismissiveness of the many protests that happen in Korea as "...dumb..." (your words) shows you either do not live here or if you do, you pay almost zero attention to what the government does.
If you live here, I suggest you start paying better attention before you write this and other activities of this government as "...one incident alone." (your words)

on edit: Nice attempt to deflect the concern BY SOMEONE WHO LIVES IN KOREA from the abuses by the government.

[davidpdx]

3. That's not what I said

The whole US Beef thing was overblown and the protests were in fact started over lies based on a broadcast on TV. Do you know why people didn't want to buy US beef? Nationalism, stright up.

As for the canal project, I happen to be one of the people to strongly oppose it and I HAVE been following it you twit. For your information I live in Korea and have lived here for the last five years (nice assumption on your part by the way).

All in all, I do not like the Lee government, but there is very little I can do about it. When the election happened last year, I warned countless numbers of people that he was going to be a trainwreck. It appears no one listened to me.

[rpannier]

4. Actually it is

The entire US Beef protests were totally blown out of proportion by the media which lied to people (this was in fact proved). Koreans like to protest over and complain over things which are absolutely dumb and this one was one of the dumbest. your words.

Koreans like to protest and complain over things which are absolutely dumb. (your words) (Not some things...things)

You also said it's NOT regressing... Nice you ignored that part.

Because it is: Unless of course you don't see the firings of 'left leaning' bureaucrats, the teacher firings, the crackdown on the internet, the sashes that bemoan the "Lost decade", the give aways to corporations, etc as not regressing.

Nice how you made the Minerva story into one incident (your words)

[davidpdx]

5. I don't know what your problem is

But you are clearly trying to smear me as a right winger in your post. You can twist my words all you want, but welcome to my ignore list.

[rpannier]

6. I never said you were a rightwinger

You said it'snot regressing

I provded you with examples that it is and yet you don't defend your statement...

[jwlashta]

7. A couple of things...

As rpannier pointed out, it isn't simply "one incident;" it is a symptom of what seems to be a continuous trend. Even if it were just "one incident," this "incident" is and of itself a great concern. Minerva was arrested for attacking the governments policies; he was an influential voice on the internet, and one commonly referenced. You cannot call yourself a free nation if you arrest outspoken critics because you don't like what they say. That to me embodies a free society in regression. That "incident" was meant as a warning to all other critics.

The current administration acts with utter disregard of the will of the people or even the best reasonable interests of the people(which to me is more important). One thing rpannier forgot to mention was the numerous media bills that the government was trying to cram through during the last session and was blocked by the "violent occupation" of the National Assembly by the left-leaning opposition parties. The legislation that this government is trying to push through is meant to empower the GNP, cripple the opposition, and disenfranchise the left leaning and poor voters.

It also annoys me that you completely missed the point of the part of the thread about the US Beef protests. The point was: peaceful protesters were arrested. There are already severe limits placed on protesting; adding the threat of arrest to non-violent protesters is just simply another way to undermine opposition.

Furthermore, rpannier didn't say it (even though you accused him of it), but I will--your outright dismissal of Korean protesters and the "things" they protest as dumb make you sound like a right-winger. Do you consider those who protest free trade and the WTA in the US dumb or blowing everything out of proportion? I can completely understand why Korean farmers would protest the FTA. I can completely understand why media workers and the general public would protest the proposed Media Bills. And, I can completely understand why people would protest importation of US beef which is largely UN-INSPECTED (by the way, when you say that "this was in fact proved" when referring to the Korean media lying to the people, could please provide a source?).

Your dismissal of the US Beef protests as simple Korean nationalism shows two things. For one, you don't understand the argument behind it (viz., lack of beef inspections). Secondly, you miss a couple of glaring facts. Koreans love meat, and they love beef; Korean beef is expensive, and they would love nothing more than to have cheaper beef (and it's not a competition thing either because Korean beef, much like Japanese beef, is considered a much more high quality beef than American beef). More importantly, Koreans import a lot of (free-range, grain fed) beef from Australia and there aren't any complaints about this--again, this has to do with the desire for cheaper meat and nothing to do with nationalism or protectionism.