ONI Country Profi le
357
South Korea ’ s elections framework allows signifi cant limits to be placed on political
speech prior to and during elections in order to prevent corruption, promote equal
opportunity, and minimize the “ damages caused by distorted election news. ”
64 Elections are restricted by numerous detailed prohibitions on campaign-related activities
that would be standard practice in many other democracies, including elected offi cials
endorsing a candidate,
65 conducting public opinion polls within six days of an election,
66 setting limits on campaign locations, and posting campaign materials.
The election law also extends these restrictions to campaign activities conducted
on information and communication networks. Article 93 of the Public Offi cial Election
Law makes it illegal for noncandidates to distribute information supporting, recommending, or opposing any political party or candidate.
67 Election commissions that
discover such information posted online may demand that the Web site or hosting
service delete, restrict, or suspend the relevant information.
68
The NEC is responsible for controlling all aspects of Korean elections, from counting votes to monitoring the media and tracing campaign contributions.
69 The NEC
has used its power to censor online media platforms to remove more than 100,000
election-related articles, comments, and blog entries from the Internet,
70 as well as
more than 65,000 movies posted to video-sharing Web sites.
71 The NEC began censoring the Internet in the early 2000s, partly in reaction to the signifi cant role the Internet
played in the 2002 presidential election.
72 It currently has two divisions devoted to
Internet regulation and censorship: the Internet Election News Deliberation Commission (IENDC),
73 which handles newspaper Web sites and other online media sources
(or “ Internet press ” ),
74 and the Cyber Censorship Team (CCT),
75 which monitors personal blogs, videos, message-board comments, and other Web sites.
76
Violation of the law against advocating a candidate prior to the election period can
be punished with a fi ne of up to KRW 4 million (USD 3,500) or two years in prison.
77
The line between campaigning and normal discussion is extremely vague, and the
decision to censor is made at the discretion of the CCT ’ s offi cers. This vagueness has
had a chilling effect on online political discourse, especially on video-sharing sites,
whose election-related content has been reduced to little more than videos produced
by the campaigns themselves.
78 Between the 2002 and 2007 presidential elections, the
total number of deletion requests for early campaigning skyrocketed, from 2,425 to
76,277.
79 Media have also reported that from June 2006 to May 2007, up to 19,000
online election-related messages were deleted, while the authors of 13 messages containing false rumors about candidates faced legal punishment.
80
Several security incidents in late 2010 also led offi cials to crack down on the spread
of misinformation online. In May 2010, a South Korean warship was sunk, an act
widely labeled as North Korean provocation.
81 Despite an international investigation
that found North Korea responsible, online discussion forums expressed doubt, suggesting the United States was to blame.
82 Government ministers responded by ordering
357
South Korea ’ s elections framework allows signifi cant limits to be placed on political
speech prior to and during elections in order to prevent corruption, promote equal
opportunity, and minimize the “ damages caused by distorted election news. ”
64 Elections are restricted by numerous detailed prohibitions on campaign-related activities
that would be standard practice in many other democracies, including elected offi cials
endorsing a candidate,
65 conducting public opinion polls within six days of an election,
66 setting limits on campaign locations, and posting campaign materials.
The election law also extends these restrictions to campaign activities conducted
on information and communication networks. Article 93 of the Public Offi cial Election
Law makes it illegal for noncandidates to distribute information supporting, recommending, or opposing any political party or candidate.
67 Election commissions that
discover such information posted online may demand that the Web site or hosting
service delete, restrict, or suspend the relevant information.
68
The NEC is responsible for controlling all aspects of Korean elections, from counting votes to monitoring the media and tracing campaign contributions.
69 The NEC
has used its power to censor online media platforms to remove more than 100,000
election-related articles, comments, and blog entries from the Internet,
70 as well as
more than 65,000 movies posted to video-sharing Web sites.
71 The NEC began censoring the Internet in the early 2000s, partly in reaction to the signifi cant role the Internet
played in the 2002 presidential election.
72 It currently has two divisions devoted to
Internet regulation and censorship: the Internet Election News Deliberation Commission (IENDC),
73 which handles newspaper Web sites and other online media sources
(or “ Internet press ” ),
74 and the Cyber Censorship Team (CCT),
75 which monitors personal blogs, videos, message-board comments, and other Web sites.
76
Violation of the law against advocating a candidate prior to the election period can
be punished with a fi ne of up to KRW 4 million (USD 3,500) or two years in prison.
77
The line between campaigning and normal discussion is extremely vague, and the
decision to censor is made at the discretion of the CCT ’ s offi cers. This vagueness has
had a chilling effect on online political discourse, especially on video-sharing sites,
whose election-related content has been reduced to little more than videos produced
by the campaigns themselves.
78 Between the 2002 and 2007 presidential elections, the
total number of deletion requests for early campaigning skyrocketed, from 2,425 to
76,277.
79 Media have also reported that from June 2006 to May 2007, up to 19,000
online election-related messages were deleted, while the authors of 13 messages containing false rumors about candidates faced legal punishment.
80
Several security incidents in late 2010 also led offi cials to crack down on the spread
of misinformation online. In May 2010, a South Korean warship was sunk, an act
widely labeled as North Korean provocation.
81 Despite an international investigation
that found North Korea responsible, online discussion forums expressed doubt, suggesting the United States was to blame.
82 Government ministers responded by ordering