Korea's government on Friday declared a strengthened crackdown on pro-North Korean forces nationwide, with prosecution, police and the broadcasting watchdog announcing the formation of a joint investigation body committed to rooting out pro-North Web sites and cyber activities.
The launch of the new body came after the Supreme Prosecutors' Office held a meeting earlier in the day with the National Police Agency and the Korea Communications Commission on how to counter a surge in the number of Web sites and online materials extolling or propagandizing the isolated communist country's leader or political regime, officials said.
"Pro-North Korean sites that are opened and operated overseas by North Korea are multiplying ever year," a prosecution official said. "We embarked on building countermeasures as these sites are being utilized as North Korea's base for propagation."
The three government agencies will hold at least one discussion session each month to increase cooperation in shutting down such pro-communist Internet sites and blocking anti-state postings and message dissemination, the official said.
The country's National Security Law regulates Internet sites or content in praise of North Korea, which is by law defined as a national enemy since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty.
The prosecution has repeatedly made such pledges since new Prosecutor General Han Sang-dae took office in August. He declared war on pro-North Korean activities in line with President Lee Myung-bak's hard-line stance against the North.
According to police statistics, the number of pro-North Internet sites reached 127 this year from just five in 2002, while the number of Internet postings uploaded in praise of the communist country stood at 23,608 during January-October this year, up 77 percent from a year earlier. (Yonhap)