A hacking group’s release of the member list of North Korea’s propaganda website couldn’t come at a more delicate moment.
We agree with the intent of the “Anonymous Korea,” a local chapter of the international hackers’ group with the same name: to enhance freedom of speech, especially at a time when North Korea, one of its most notorious oppressors, is ratcheting up military tension.
But it’s a regret that is all we can sympathize with the group’s act. By exposing personal data of more than 150,000 members of the website, named “Uriminjokkiri” (Among Korean people), the so-called hactivist group infringed on the privacy of so many people, in grave violation of democratic principles. It was a pitiable example of self-contradiction.
Worse yet, the move touched off a massive witch-hunt by right-wing Internet users here of what they paint as pro-North Korean members, which law enforcement authorities estimate between 2,000 and 5,000. These self-styled “patriotic cyber-warriors” generalized all people on the list as pro-North elements or even North Korean spies, sharply curtailing their freedom of speech. Is this what Anonymous wanted?
All this point to the need for the prosecution to remain extremely careful in launching probes into those on the list. It would be most important to confirm they are the true owners of the email accounts in question. Even the conservative former President Lee Myung-bak and ultra-right politician Lee Hoi-chang are on the list, indicating the doubtful authenticity of the list.
Prosecutors should look into only those who are real holders of these accounts whether they have conducted any anti-state activities. Many of these account owners, including researchers and journalists, keep them for study and getting news.
The revelation should not be allowed to rekindle the consumptive ideological warfare amid heightened inter-Korean tension. Most South Koreans in their right minds neither like nor admire the impoverished, anachronistic regime in the north. Making too much ado about it only reveals lingering “red complex” among the conservatives.
And that’s what North Korea, and its few sympathizers in the South, may want at heart.