North Korean Economy Watch

According to the Choson Ilbo, the South Korean government is monitoring 76 pro-DPRK websites:

The National Police Agency is monitoring a total of 76 pro-North Korea websites overseas. According to data on the NPA submitted to Grand National Party lawmaker Lee Bum-rae of the National Assembly’s Public Administration and Security Committee, of the websites with servers abroad, 31 in the U.S., 19 in Japan, 13 in China, 4 in Germany, and 9 in other countries. 

The NPA said it has also asked or advised web portals to delete a total of 6,377 pro-Pyongyang postings since the inauguration of the Roh Moo-hyun administration in February 2003. The number has been on the increase from 1,010 in 2004 to 1,434 in 2007. Until August this year, the NPA already asked web portals to delete a total of 1,035 such postings.

I find this personally disturbing for a couple of reasons—the first being that the South Korean government asking content to be removed from the Internet sounds more like a North Korean policy than that of a democratic government in one of Asia’s wealthiest nations.  The second bit of news that disturbs me is that I cannot come up with more than 10 pro-DPRK web sites.  Where are these people hiding?     

Read the full article here.

UPDATE: South Korea raids the offices of a pro-North group:

A group of agents from the National Intelligence Service, the police, and the Prosecutor’s Office Saturday stormed the headquarters of the All-Korean Committee for Implementation of June 15 Joint Declaration in Seoul and its 5 regional offices as well as the houses of the organization’s five officials simultaneously, Yonhap News reported.

The authorities also arrested seven officials of the organization, including its leader, whose last name is Choi, for violation of the National Security Law.

The authorities reportedly launched the massive investigation of the group when it was airing the media contents from North Korea through its Internet-based “6.15TV” that allegedly violated the 7th clause of the law that prohibits the praise for and encouragement on North Korea.
The group was established in October 2000 to commemorate the June 15 Joint Declaration and promote the unification movement on a civilian level. It has been engaged in civilian exchanges between the two Koreas, demanded the withdrawal of the U.S. troops from South Korea as well as a movement to understand North Korea better.

The group’s Web site (www.615.or.kr) was inaccessible Saturday afternoon due to heavy traffic volume.

Read the full story in the Korea Times.

UPDATE 2: 4 South Korean arrested for “praising north”

Four progressive civic group members were arrested Tuesday for allegedly praising North Korea, leading the Solidarity for Practice of the South-North Joint Declaration (SPSNJD) to criticize the National Intelligence Service (NIS) and the prosecution for abusing what they call the outdated National Security Law.

They were charged with opening an exclusive pro-North chat room on the group’s Web site ― restricted to certified members ― and releasing North Korean press material to praise the Stalinist country at the expense of the South. (Korea Times)

Really? A chat room with 4 nobodys?  It would be different if they had guns and plans, but reading silly North Korean press releases can’t seriously be considered subversive activity can it?

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 25th, 2008 at 10:55 pm and is filed under South Korea. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.