Like many other values at the heart of democratic life, Koreans have won their freedom of speech far too recently to take it for granted. As recently as the 1980s, newsrooms were forced to conform to “press guidelines” issued by the authoritarian government and ordinary people were routinely put on trial for op-eds or posters that ran afoul of the dictator’s whims. 

If not for the bravery and sacrifice that ultimately led to democratization, the draconian controls on speech we see in places like Tehran or Moscow could very easily still exist in Seoul today.