Politicians, Voters Snub Twitter Clampdown

By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff Reporter

Politicians are increasingly relying on social media Web sites like Twitter (www.twitter.com) to get their message out, so the decision by the country's election regulator to suppress their Internet activities has been met with fury.

It's difficult to get lawmakers to agree on anything these days, but it seems clear that the ruling Grand National Party (GNP) and its opposition foes are united in their disgust about the National Election Commission (NEC)'s refusal to embrace social media as a legitimate campaign tool.

The NEC is preventing politicians and their supporters from using Twitter for promoting candidacies ahead of the June 2 local elections, even opening its own Twitter account (www.twitter.com/nec3939) to track down the ``tweets'' of lawmakers and political party members.

In defending its decision, the commission cites the Korean Election Law that bans politicians from distributing promotional material and any other content of ''similar purpose'' from 180 days ahead of the vote.

Activities on personal Web sites, blogs, e-mails and even mobile-phone text messages are subject to these rules, and the NEC says Twitter should be no exception.

To put it simply, under Korean rules, Twitter-loving Barack Obama would have had a tougher time being elected for anything.

Lawmaker Chung Doo-un, who heads GNP's local elections planning committee, said Sunday that his party will discuss whether to present an official complaint to the NEC over its Twitter ban.

``If a consensus is reached, we will submit an official challenge over this matter with the NEC,'' Chung said.

``Administrative bodies should broaden their interest and understanding of new generations and culture. It would be wrong for them to compromise their core values, but even more foolish to let themselves be outdated.''

Chung's comments came shortly after a group of opposition lawmakers, led by former presidential candidate and Democratic Party lawmaker Chung Dong-young, announced a draft bill to rewrite the country's election law, which would allow more online freedom over political campaigning.

The New Progressive Party (NPP) had been most vocal about the Twitter ban, as the party's co-leader Roh Hoi-chan, happens to be one of the most popular Korean politicians on Twitter, gaining more than 34,000 ``followers'' for his tweets.

It is still unclear whether the debate over Twitter will eventually lead to a change in the Korean Election Law, which critics have long been accusing of suppressing legitimate speech.

The advancement in communication, driven by the Internet and mobile phones, is blurring the boundaries between personal and public spaces, and the NEC's censoring of content on the Web and mobile devices touches off debate on whether old election rules should be put above freedom of expression.

Twitter, which combines the strengths of blogs and instant messaging services, enables users to send and receive short messages on personal computers and mobile devices.

This and other micro-blogging services are changing the way people get information and communicate by allowing subscribers to broadcast their real-time status to an indefinite number of Internet users.

Twitter has been gaining growing attention among politicians, as they look to exploit the mobile Internet explosion driven by the Apple iphone and other data-enabled handsets, and find new ways to reach out to voters.

The GNP recently handed out smartphones to 700 of its lawmakers and other party officials, following an earlier move by the NPP, and has even been inviting instructors to hold classes on the ways to better use the sophisticated devices.

The Democratic Party is also considering providing smartphones to its lawmakers and candidates running in the local elections.

thkim@koreatimes.co.kr

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