Jung Min-ho has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2012, mostly covering social and political issues. He currently belongs to the Politics & City Desk where he covers topics such as health, labor and human rights. Prior to joining the team, he was responsible for covering North Korea and sports. His article about a biosecurity breach of Middle East respiratory syndrome won him an award from the Korea Science Journalists Association in 2016. He is also the co-author of the book, "Medical Pioneers of Korea" (2019). He served as the head of the international relations committee at the Journalists Association of Korea from 2021 to 2023.
Ruling party pushes to lift ban on North Korean media
People read an article from the Rodong Sinmun newspaper in Pyongyang, in this Sept. 24, 2024, file photo. A group of lawmakers of South Korea's ruling Democratic Party of Korea is pushing to ease a decades-old ban on accessing North Korean websites such as the online Rodong Sinmun. AFP-Yonhap
By Jung Min-ho
Rights advocates hail move as overdue step, while conservatives warn of risks
A group of lawmakers of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea is pushing to ease a decades-old ban on accessing North Korean websites such as the online Rodong Sinmun, reviving a debate over national security and freedom of information.
The proposed revision, drafted by Rep. Han Min-soo and 11 other lawmakers, would allow people in South Korea to freely visit North Korean websites, while maintaining existing bans on distributing or actively promoting content that violates the National Security Act.
“Blocking access excessively limits citizens’ most basic right to information and undermines their ability to freely use the materials needed to shape public discourse on North Korea and unification,” Han said. “By permitting access to and viewing of North Korean websites, the aim is to clarify the original intent of regulations on information distribution and to expand citizens’ opportunities to obtain information about the North, and thereby promote a more balanced understanding of the country.”
Supporters frame the change as a necessary update for a mature democracy, arguing that citizens should be trusted to judge propaganda for themselves and that blanket blocking is an excessive restriction on their constitutional rights.
“For those of us studying human rights in North Korea, we closely examine Rodong Sinmun and other reports published there,” Song Han-na, executive director of the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights, a Seoul-based nongovernment organization, told The Korea Times. “I doubt simply viewing North Korean media would have a major impact on people’s thinking … Perhaps this debate reflects a lack of trust in our own citizens.”
Shin Hee-seok, a legal analyst at Transitional Justice Working Group, a rights group based in Seoul, expressed a similar view.
“If we are also going to send outside information into North Korea, then in a sense, mutual exchange makes more sense,” he said.
Advocates also say direct access to North Korean media would help academics, journalists and the wider public better understand Pyongyang’s official narratives, instead of relying solely on filtered or second-hand interpretations.
But some conservatives strongly oppose the move, saying it would open the door wider to North Korean propaganda and harm security. They warn that lifting the ban could legitimize the regime’s propaganda, increase ideological influence on younger generations and fuel political polarization here.
A similar attempt to loosen access rules, under the previous Yoon Suk Yeol administration, was ultimately abandoned amid strong backlash from security-focused conservative groups.
“Relaxing access to North Korean media would raise serious questions about what practical benefit it offers within the broader context of the global community’s sanctions framework against the North and the broader trend toward deepening the South Korea-U.S. alliance,” Cho Yong-sul, a spokesman for the main opposition People Power Party, said in a statement.
“The government and the ruling party still have not provided a sufficient explanation of what positive effects this course of action will have on our national interest and security. So it is difficult to avoid criticism that this reflects ideology more than sound policymaking.”
An official at the Ministry of Unification said it is in consultation with the lawmakers involved in the bill, adding that, if discussions proceed well, legislation may be possible next year.