By Park Si-soo
The Ministry of National Defense ban on dozens of books written with allegedly pro-North Korea language within military barracks does not infringe on the basic rights of service members and thus remains constitutional, the Constitutional Court said Thursday.
The ruling came following a two-year-old dispute over the censorship, which liberals claim was a legacy of the military’s outdated code of conduct.
In a 6-to-3 ruling, Justice Lee Kang-kook said the court decided that the ban on seditious books in barracks was constitutional. Lee said the intent behind the ban was justifiable and the scope of the ban appropriate as it was “limited to books that may seriously undermine the morale of soldiers.”
Seven dismissed military judges filed a petition challenging the code with the court in 2008.
Under the military code of conduct, service members are banned from reading and possessing books, pictures and other forms of printed materials if the content is considered “seditious.”
According to the rule, the ministry announced 23 books that soldiers should not read in July 2008. They include “Bad Samaritans,” by Chang Ha-joon, a professor at Cambridge University; “Year 501: The Conquest Continues” by Noam Chomsky, a U.S. author; and Hyeon Gi-yeong's novel, “A Spoon on Earth.”
These books have been categorized by the ministry into either three categories ㅡ pro-North Korea, anti-government and anti-U.S. or anti-capitalism.
Following the announcement, the seven petitioners, who were then military judges, lashed out at the restriction. They filed a petition with the court. Later, they were dismissed from their positions or reprimanded on charges of a collective revolt against the military leadership.
In August 2008, the National Human Rights Commission urged the ministry to draw clear guidelines detailing what “seditious” means in publications.
Ironically, many of the books listed drew great public interest and made the best sellers lists at large bookstores at that time.
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