By Kim Sue-young
Staff Reporter

The governing Grand National Party (GNP) will introduce legislation to strengthen punishment for contempt on the Internet and introduce the so-called real-name system at Web sites, a senior party official said Friday.

The move to curb cyber bullying and malicious online messages came after the 40-year-old beloved actress Choi Jin-sil allegedly hanged herself Thursday as a result of chronic depression and malicious rumors on the Internet.

But the Democratic Party (DP) and other opposition parties opposed the GNP's move.

The main opposition DP said the GNP is seeking to take advantage of the Choi's death to promote partisan interests.

``We will block any GNP move to pass such a bill during the current National Assembly session," the DP said.

It expressed worries that punishing Internet users for contempt on Web sites may infringe upon the freedom of expression.

GNP floor leader Hong Joon-pyo said unless such a scheme is introduced, malicious comments on the Internet would continue to have negative influence on people.''

Hong rebutted that the DP's objections to the passage of the bill can produce more victims like Choi.

``Malicious comments cannot be regarded `freedom of expression' but just exerts an evil influence on the society. They are not worthy to be protected by Constitution and laws,'' he said.

Meanwhile, GNP lawmaker Lim Doo-sung submitted a revision to prevent suicide to the parliament same day.

He suggested establishing a committee to halt the rate of suicide under the Office of the Prime Minister and studying systematic countermeasures to protect people from killing themselves.

The revision also contains provisions that the minister of health, welfare and family affairs should release statistics on suicide triennially and present guidelines to prevent these tragic incidents every five years.

The guidelines have to include advice on how to report suicide, suicide preventative measures for different age groups and traetment for depression which is considered a major cause of people killing themselves, he said.

Lim also proposed proclaiming Sept. 10 ``suicide prevention day'' and a week thereafter ``suicide prevention week'' to foster an atmosphere to respect life.

``There are concerns that celebrities' deaths may cause copycat suicides also known as the Werther effect,'' said the lawmaker. ``By introducing such a legislation, we should help sufferers driven to the brink of desperation.''

ksy@koreatimes.co.kr