{"id":2199116,"date":"2022-10-07T08:42:48","date_gmt":"2022-10-07T08:42:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nknews.org\/koreapro\/?p=2199116"},"modified":"2023-04-05T16:11:29","modified_gmt":"2023-04-05T07:11:29","slug":"yoons-attempts-to-censor-media-call-into-question-his-fitness-to-govern","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2022\/10\/yoons-attempts-to-censor-media-call-into-question-his-fitness-to-govern\/","title":{"rendered":"Yoon\u2019s attempts to censor media call into question his fitness to govern"},"content":{"rendered":"

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 \u201c<\/span>press guidelines<\/span><\/a>\u201d issued by the authoritarian government and ordinary people were routinely put on trial for op-eds or posters that ran afoul of the dictator\u2019s whims.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is doubly tragic, therefore, that the current occupant of the Korean presidency appears to view the speech restrictions of the authoritarian era not with relief and regret \u2014 but with nostalgia and envy. After major broadcaster MBC aired a hot-mic clip of Yoon Suk-yeol likely calling U.S. lawmakers \u201cbastards,\u201d he immediately announced an \u201c<\/span>inquiry<\/span><\/a>\u201d into press outlets that reported his gaffe and demanded an apology.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Then Yoon\u2019s conservative People Power Party (PPP) went further and filed <\/span>criminal complaints<\/span><\/a> against the broadcaster and four individual journalists.<\/span><\/p>\n

A more self-aware, politically skilled administration would have played the story for laughs and allowed the news cycle to pass. But Yoon and his advisors chose a different path. Their heavy-handed response to a relatively minor incident has allowed it to grow into an ongoing international embarrassment that seriously calls into question Yoon\u2019s fitness to govern.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Yoon addresses the U.N. General Assembly, Sept. 2022 | Image: U.N.<\/p><\/div>\n

A TROUBLING PETTINESS<\/b><\/p>\n

This week, Yoon\u2019s contempt for free speech was once again on display as a government ministry tried to intimidate a child who poked fun at the president in a political cartoon. After the high school student, who lives in Busan, won an award for his drawing that depicts Yoon as a runaway train about to trample over innocent children, the Ministry of Culture issued an official statement condemning the piece as \u201c<\/span>socially disruptive<\/span><\/a>.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This is nearly verbatim framing used by South Korea\u2019s 20th-century dictators. In a depressingly familiar pattern for Korean politics, this <\/span>dog whistle<\/span><\/a> has mobilized President Yoon\u2019s supporters, who have since launched a harassment campaign against the student in question.<\/span><\/p>\n

Just two weeks ago, Yoon stood before the U.N. General Assembly and declared that South Korea was ready to play a greater role in <\/span>defending freedom and democratic norms<\/span><\/a> worldwide. His conduct at home has made a more effective mockery of his big speech than any critic could have.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Through their intimidation tactics and their embarrassingly repeated assertion that the press must serve the \u201cnational interest,” Seoul\u2019s conservatives have made it clear that they have no genuine interest in democratic values and norms \u2014 other than as a convenient cudgel for red-bait tactics against liberal politicians.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This conduct also raises far more serious concerns about the president\u2019s character and fitness to serve than any amount of profanity mistakenly deployed in front of a hot mic could have. Put simply, Yoon does not appear to have the ability to take even gentle criticism, instead deploying the resources of his government and his party to pursue retribution against perceived slights. This does not bode well for Yoon\u2019s ability to govern for the next four years without more examples of petty vindictiveness he has recently displayed.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Yoon Suk-yeol (center) celebrates Childen’s Day with finger hearts, May 2022 | Image: ROK Presidential Office<\/p><\/div>\n

To be sure, his predecessors were no friends to free speech. We are barely even six months removed from the Democratic Party trying to push through an overbearing \u201cpress reform\u201d bill that would have allowed aggrieved politicians to impose crushing <\/span>punitive damages<\/span><\/a> against press outlets for what the government deems inaccuracies in reporting. Then-President Moon Jae-in personally filed a criminal complaint against a right-wing activist for passing out <\/span>parody posters<\/span><\/a> depicting Moon as a communist sympathizer.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And as any commentator who has spent a day on Twitter will know, the Democratic Party\u2019s overzealous supporters are infamous for driving vicious harassment campaigns against academics, journalists and other critics \u2014 often with tacit <\/span>coordination<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>support<\/span><\/a> from party officials.<\/span><\/p>\n

Part of the explanation why South Korean leaders bristle at the idea of free speech is cultural. Most Korean politicians are still colored by their upbringing under the autocracies of the 70s and 80s \u2014 even those on the other side of the ramparts protesting for democracy. These people tend to see public opinion as an inconvenience to be overcome rather than a necessary check against political power.<\/span><\/p>\n

But the primary cause is the South Korean legal system itself, which makes it trivially easy for politicians to use the criminal process to silence critics. In Korea, defamation is a crime, meaning any politician can file a criminal complaint against their critics. The authorities, in turn, are reluctant to risk a public backlash by dismissing complaints from high-profile figures without investigation, no matter how frivolous they appear on their face.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As a result, the criminal complaint system has become a tool of oppression: if a politician doesn\u2019t like your opinion, they can report you to the authorities for defamation at no cost to themselves, and then watch you expend time and expense to defend yourself against a criminal investigation conducted on the taxpayer\u2019s dime.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

A burning newspaper | Image: Danya Gutan via Pexels<\/p><\/div>\n

AN AUTHORITARIAN SHADOW<\/b><\/p>\n

Powerful and influential people like President Yoon and his liberal rivals have no incentive to change a system that inherently benefits them. It is up to the Korean public to realize that an outmoded political culture and draconian criminal defamation laws have combined to pose a substantial threat to their right to free speech.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If things are going to change, Koreans will have to become more vocal in defending free speech as a universally applicable value \u2014 not just a talking point for partisans to criticize overreach by the other side.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The PPP\u2019s criminal complaint against MBC drew <\/span>widespread condemnation<\/span><\/a> from <\/span>journalists<\/span><\/a> based in Seoul, and the International Federation of Journalists quickly issued a <\/span>statement<\/span><\/a> calling the move \u201ca typical example of intimidation.\u201d If Yoon and future presidents want to be taken seriously as international defenders of democratic values, they must be willing to defend those values at home first.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Edited by Arius Derr<\/em><\/p>\n

Culture & Society<\/span><\/a>Domestic Politics<\/span><\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 \u201cpress guidelines\u201d issued by the authoritarian government and ordinary people were routinely put on trial for op-eds or posters […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7824,"featured_media":2199120,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[25,27],"yoast_head":"\nYoon\u2019s attempts to censor media call into question his fitness to govern - KOREA PRO<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2022\/10\/yoons-attempts-to-censor-media-call-into-question-his-fitness-to-govern\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Yoon\u2019s attempts to censor media call into question his fitness to govern - KOREA PRO\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"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. 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