Folks, South Korea is one of the most liberal
and democratic countries in Asia, as well
as being – not surprisingly – one of the
most connected and technologically advanced
countries in the world.
The contrast with its impoverished and tyrannical
northern neighbor is striking – like the
difference between night and day.
And, in fact, here on VisualPolitik, we’ve
already talked about some of these differences
in various videos.
Because this time we’re not going to talk
about the South Korean economy or about its
vertiginous market-oriented development, or
anything like that.
In this video we’re going to talk about
the internet.
You’ve probably heard that South Korea is
the number one country in the world in terms
of volume of online connections.
Check this out.
South Korea has the most users connected to
fiber optic networks, almost 31% of its entire
population.
In addition, 96% of South Koreans have access
to the Internet, the largest percentage on
the planet.
They are also the third biggest social network
users; no less than 85% of all South Koreans
use them regularly.
To give you a better idea, this compares with
70% in the United States.
And that’s not all.
Nowadays, it’s also the country that markets
the fastest internet speed, 2.5 gigs of download
that will soon become 10.
And if that weren’t enough, it’s the country
with the highest smartphone penetration in
the world.
94% of South Koreans have one.
Basically, South Korea is super connected
But, as if that weren’t enough…
Korea – we’re talking south of course
– has the most implemented 4G network in
the world, and has been one of the first countries
to market the now incredibly famous 5G.
But...
Okay... enough facts.
You get 
the picture, right?
South Korea boasts great technological development
and an enviable telco market.
But, folks, as we like to say on VisualPolitik...
take a closer look because not everything
that glitters is gold.
According to the NGO Freedom House, which
creates an annual benchmark index on network
freedom, South Korea barely reaches the “partially
free” status.
This basically puts it at the same level as
countries like Nigeria or Kyrgyzstan – which,
as everyone knows, are exemplary democracies.
But that raises the question...
What exactly is happening in South Korea?
Why do they have such a low level of network
freedom?
Well, in this video, we’re going to discuss
a not-so-well known South Korean problem:
Government control of the internet.
(A CENSORSHIP TRADITION)
All countries have their angels and demons,
and of course, South Korea is no different.
South Korean democracy is very recent, it
barely started in 1988, and is still an imperfect
democracy.
Throughout its short life and without exception,
each and every one of its democratic presidents
has had a clear tendency towards censorship
and information control.
Whether due to a lack of political culture
or because of moral and cultural issues linked
to their Confucian past, the State is still
very, very paternalistic and there’s a strong
hierarchical vision of society.
This means that elders and bosses are never
questioned.
In addition, there’s a strong sense of community,
in comparison to the more individualistic
and less rigid societies of the West.
This reality explains why the country’s
leaders have felt justified in controlling
certain aspects – often too many – of
people's lives, and in limiting their citizens’
ability to express themselves freely.
All this, of course, in the name of the common
good.
This often involves controlling freedom of
speech and, of course, limiting criticisms
of authority figures or the ruling political
party of the moment.
However, folks, the government uses two issues
in particular to justify all its censorship
activity:
protection against North Korea, and public
morals.
You see, in order to block content, the government
resorts to the National Security Law.
A law that, among other things, prohibits
communism in practice, as well as any declaration
in favor of North Korea or subversive ideas
that encourage the elimination of the State.
This Law applies not only to the physical
terrain but also to cyberspace, for example,
blocking or closing any web pages that speak
in favor of the northern regime.
And then, there’s another key factor that
is becoming more and more important lately:
The ban on pornography.
Yes, you heard that correctly.
South Korea is one of the few countries in
the world where pornography is explicitly
prohibited.
Specifically, since 2008.
Actually it’s not just pornography but also
gambling and many online games that are blocked
under the pretext of being “indecent websites”.
But don’t think this is new…
Not at all.
See, a few years ago, between 2001 and 2003,
the then government of the center-left Nobel
Peace Prize winner Kim Dae Jung, set about
blocking websites with homosexual content
as if there were no tomorrow, because they
were, literally, “spaces of obscenity and
perversion”.
Quite a mild statement.
Now, of course, if you want to be an ace censor,
that is if you want to chop and change the
internet to suit your views, you need to organize
yourself.
It is precisely due to that that in 2008,
the conservative president Lee Myung Bak created
a public body to control the internet:
The Korea Communications Standards Commission
or KCSC.
This commission has the power to block and
even close websites without even requiring
a court order.
The problem, folks, is that instead of moving
towards an increasingly free Internet, South
Korea seems to be heading backwards at full
speed.
The most recent figures, from 2017, on websites
blocked and eliminated by the KCSC are simply
scary.
Nearly 67,000, 67,000 websites were blocked
and more than 15,000 were eliminated.
In a single year!
Come on, with this kind of data you could
say that things are getting out of hand...
Folks, it is scary to see politicians blocking
and closing websites at will.
And, on top of that, 2017 was the first year
since the commission first began to operate
in 2008 in which the number of blocked and
deleted pages decreased a little.
In other words, it was a good year.
Wow.
But, having reached this point, the question
that comes to mind is: how is South Korea
censoring the Internet?
How far can the government go to prevent the
population from accessing the “immoral”?
And what’s even more important:
Could VisualPolitik be considered an immoral
website?
Well, let's see.
(A TANGLED INDEPENDENT CENSOR?)
Folks, the truth is that censorship in the
South Korean network is very serious and not
very transparent.
And the key to all of this is in the KCSC,
which I mentioned a moment ago.
This so-called independent commission, is
nestled within another, Korea’s Communications
Commission or KCC.
The KCSC regulates the internet and the KCC
regulates all means of communication.
And the key question is, how do they work?
Well, the KCC has five members, two of which
are directly appointed by the South Korean
president, including its director.
The other three are appointed by the National
Assembly, the country's parliament.
So… as you can see, a non-politically and
unbiased commission, quite independent…
In this way, the KCSC, the commission that
regulates the internet, is responsible for
identifying websites that violate any law,
sites such as pro-North Korean websites, pornography
or online gambling, but also anything that
the agency considers as cyber-defamation or
anti-military content.
That’s when a content deletion, blocking
or total closure of the website request is
issued to the KCC, which transmits it to the
media service provider, who must comply with
the order.
And folks, these kinds of requests aren’t
often rejected.
Although, formally, the service provider has
15 days to appeal the request.
The truth is that after the deadline, it is
the KCSC who decides what sanctions and punishments
will be applied based on the Law and content
in question.
Without any judge interfering at any time
in the process.
What do you think?
To us it sounds too much like outright censorship,
which clashes with the foundations of freedom
and democracy.
But that’s not all.
In 2017, a new president came to power.
Human rights lawyer Moon Jae In seized power
after a shady corruption scandal involving
his conservative predecessor, Park Geun Hye.
Many Western media painted him as a reformer
who would bring new progress to the country,
but is it really like that in the field of
Internet freedom?
Well...
No...
I can already say that isn’t the case.
Listen up.
(MOON JAE IN, HEAVY HAND AND A PRETTY FACE)
You saw it here, on this channel.
In a previous video we criticized Moon Jae
In for his economic management, but what about
individual liberties, and more specifically,
the internet?
Because we’re basically talking about a
center-left politician who has been trying
to convey the image that South Korea has overcome
a dark era of corruption after the scandals
of his predecessor, Park.
Something that he did with a campaign that
washed his image with quite populist dyes.
A campaign with which he obtained a chilling
approval rating of 80% among the South Koreans
at the beginning of his mandate.
Quite the popular fervor…
In addition, his dialogues with North Korea
and summits with Kim Jong Un have also helped
him to be seen as a man of peace and reconciliation,
both inside and outside of Korea.
But, just a second, is it all as rosy as it
seems?
Well… no.
If his economic management is already leaving
quite a lot to be desired, in terms of individual
liberties and network freedom… he isn’t
doing too well either.
Censorship Is a Bipartisan Pursuit in South
Korea.
The Diplomat.)
Yes folks.
According to a report by the Joongang Ilbo,
one of the three largest newspapers in South
Korea, censorship in the Moon era has expanded
even more in the political arena.
For example, the Moon government withdrew
funding from the only think tank in the United
States that specializes in Korean issues,
the U.S.-Korea Institute, or USKI.
Why?
Well… it didn’t have to do with austerity,
but with USKI being critical of Moon's overly
friendly attitudes with Kim Jong Un and his
North Korean regime.
Korea think tank at U.S. university to close
after Seoul withdraws funding.
Washington Post)
Mind you, the problem isn’t that he withdrew
financing from a Think Tank in Washington,
but the idea of ​​using public money to
reward friends and punish critics.
But, that’s not all.
The most serious and most worrisome point
for the International Community, is the new
form of censorship that Moon's Government
has implemented on the Internet.
It is considered “Chinese-style censorship”
because it’s the same method Beijing uses
to block websites.
Yes, you heard that correctly.
South Korea is copying China in terms of freedoms.
Surely you did not expect that.
Since the start of this year, 2019, the South
Korean government has begun to open data packages
from encrypted HTTPS website serves, which
are considered the safest.
The KCSC used Server Name Indication, or SNI,
espionage to block 895 websites in February
with this method.
One of the websites blocked with this method
was, for example, (Pornhub) the largest pornographic
website in the world.
But, how does this method work?
Well check this out, if the user tries to
access an https website considered “harmful”
by the government, the KCSC opens the data
packages to find the server, whose information
isn’t encrypted.
That way, by knowing the server, the government
can block access to the ‘harmful’ sites.
But that’s not all.
If the government comes up with the key to
decrypt the information, it can even specifically
see your internet visits and access personal
information such as your IP address.
In short, Moon's government could be spying
on every packet of data that South Korean
netizens receive and choose to block access,
if it's an unauthorized page.
That is, it can control what each person does
on the internet at an individual level.
Privacy?
What’s privacy?
And it goes without saying folks that this
isn’t typical of free and democratic regimes,
or leaders with a conciliatory image, such
as Moon’s.
Here at VisualPolitik, we love South Korea,
and we believe that it’s an exemplary country
in most aspects.
And it’s precisely because we love it that
we’re worried about this lack of network
freedom.
But now it's your turn:
Is the censorship and espionage of Internet
users justified in order to “maintain morals”?
What do you think about the online control
framework that South Korea has developed?
Is Moon really committed to freedom?
Leave your answer in the comments and in this
survey.
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the vocals in this episode that were not mine.
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And as always, thanks for watching!
