Korea's freedom of expression being undermined

A bill banning the sending of anti-North Korean regime leaflets to the North is passed by a unanimous vote at a National Assembly session, Monday, in which 187 lawmakers of the supermajority ruling Democratic Party of Korea and other liberal minor parties participated. The main opposition People Power Party boycotted the vote after its members' filibuster to stop the passage of the bill was nullified through a vote led by the supermajority ruling party. Yonhap

By Jung Da-min

Concerns are rising over a series of attempts from the ruling bloc to push legislation that may undermine people's freedom of expression.

The ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), which has a supermajority in the National Assembly with 173 seats of the total 300, has steamrolled the passage of the controversial bills, despite protest from the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) and civic groups dealing with relevant issues.

It was reported that a bipartisan human rights commission of the U.S. House of Representatives is set to hold a hearing to review the law in January, according to U.S. media outlet Voice of America, Friday. The report cited an official with the commission.

The report came after Rep. Chris Smith, a Republican congressman who co-chairs the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, criticized the law. Smith said on his website last week that the sending of leaflets should not be criminalized as it is a “conduct aimed at promoting democracy and providing spiritual and humanitarian succor to people suffering under one of the cruelest communist dictatorships in the world.”

The legislation of the controversial law came after non-governmental civic groups in the South flew balloons carrying propaganda leaflets from border cities in Gyeonggi Province. In early June, Kim Yo-jong, a top North Korean official and the sister of the country's leader Kim Jong-un, strongly protested such activities, saying that Seoul would “pay a dear price” if it keeps allowing such hostile activities.

While the law met with criticism within the country and abroad, government bodies, including the foreign and unification ministries, have defended the law, saying it is aimed at protecting the lives of people in the border areas, who have often faced North Korea's threats when such leaflet-carrying balloons were launched.

“There's an argument that this is a restriction on freedom of expression. Freedom of expression, I think, is absolutely vital to human rights, but it's not absolute. It can be limited, according to the ICCPR,” Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said during her interview with CNN, Wednesday. ICCPR is an acronym for the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, a multilateral United Nations treaty ratified by both Koreas, which states the right to freedom of expression is “subject to certain restrictions” including the protection of national security or public order.

But criticism continued against the ruling bloc not only for the anti-leaflet law but also other contentious laws unilaterally passed by the DPK, which critics say go against the democratic value of freedom of speech.

One such case was a revision to the special law on the May 18 Gwangju pro-democracy movement of 1980. Under the revision, those who release false or distorted information on the historic movement would face a maximum of five years in prison or fines of up to 70 million won ($63,646). The revision came after members of the main opposition United Future Party (UFP), a predecessor to the current PPP, made repeated disparaging remarks last year against victims of the brutal military massacre and their relatives.

People's Solidarity for Social Progress, a liberal civic group, said historical awareness is not subject to punishment but an issue to be discussed through free exchange of opinions. “If a state sets a specific historical view and punishes different opinions, the rule can be abused by the state and those in power to suppress opposition forces,” it said in a statement issued in October.

“This is a law restricting freedom of thought, and I believe it has aspects against the Constitution,” said Hwang Tae-soon, a political commentator.

Political watchers also criticized the DPK's recent steamrolling of contentious laws for lacking in democratic procedures. In attempts to stop the DPK's move, the PPP staged filibusters for the contentious bills but they were stopped after the DPK voted to cancel them.