By Lee Hyo-sik
The South Korean government has been blocking a website of a Beijing-based tourism agency specializing in tours to North Korea since January for allegedly posting pro-Pyongyang material.
The Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC) said Tuesday that the websites of Koryo Tours (www.koryogroup.com and www.koryotours.com) were blocked at the request of the National Intelligence Service (NIS), the country’s spy agency.
``We decided to prevent South Korean servers from accessing Koryo Tours’ sites on Jan. 26, two days after NIS and other law enforcement authorities made requests for such,” said a KCSC official, who declined to be named. “We concluded that the content of the sites violated the National Security Act and other relevant laws banning propagandist information about North Korea.’’
Under the laws, South Koreans cannot view pro-North Korea information on-and off-line. Those who distribute and promote pro-North material are prosecuted.
For its part, the NIS said it is up to the commission on whether to block certain websites from being accessed. ``The commission is in charge, not us,’’ an NIS spokesman said, declining to comment on whether the spy agency made a request to the commission.
The KCSC said the tour agency offering North Korean tour services since 1993 not only provides information about tourist spots in the North, but also details the communist regime’s political system and ideology.
``Koryo Tours CEO Nicolas Bonner, who is British national, sent us an email containing scores of articles about its position on the issue. But unless drastic changes are made to the content on the sites, an access ban will be maintained,’’ he said.
On Monday, Koryo Tours released a statement, describing the ban as ``inappropriate and unjust.’’
``South Korea overacted in blocking our website since the beginning of this year. We do not encourage South Koreans to visit the North,” it said. “We have no political agenda and only seek to raise awareness and mutual understanding between North Korea and the rest of the world.’’
The agency also said it has changed some pictures and removed links to certain North Korean websites at the KCSC’s request.
The KCSC official acknowledged that some changes have been made on the Koryo Tours’ websites.
However, he made it clear that it has no plan to lift the blocking.
``We still believe the changes are insufficient,’’ he said, indicating Internet users here will not be able to view the sites for a while.