From a friend in Korea, about further restrictions on freedom of expression there:
โI would like to bring to your attention another troubling development concerning freedom of expression in South Korea.
Today, President Lee Jae-myung said that expressions disparaging certain regions or mocking victims of certain historical events should face โsubstantive sanctions,โ while stating that such measures should not infringe on freedom of expression.
More significantly, he instructed relevant government agencies to develop preventive measures and criminal actions.
Article:
https://t.co/rV6ZjoFYfD
South Korea already has laws dealing with defamation, insult, false information, and other unlawful speech. Complaints, lawsuits, and criminal investigations involving speech are already common.
The issue, therefore, is not whether offensive, hateful, or insulting speech should be encouraged. It should not.
The deeper concern is the growing tendency to respond to political, regional, and historical controversy by creating additional legal restrictions and punishment mechanisms.
A free society inevitably contains conflicting interpretations of history. It contains political anger, harsh criticism, ridicule, satire, offensive opinions, and sometimes deeply unpleasant speech.
For decades, South Korean presidents, first ladies, politicians, regions, historical figures, and even victims of national tragedies have been subjected to vicious ridicule and political attacks from every side.
Lee Myung-bak was attacked and ridiculed.
Park Geun-hye was attacked and ridiculed.
Yoon Suk Yeol and Kim Keon Hee were subjected to relentless personal mockery.
Political hostility and regional antagonism have existed in South Korea for decades.
None of this means such behavior should be defended.
But there is an important difference between condemning offensive speech and repeatedly expanding the power of the state to punish it.
Whenever another political or historical controversy erupts, will the response now be another restriction, another sanction, and another criminal mechanism?
South Korea already has numerous legal mechanisms governing speech. Yet over the past two years, additional legislation and policies concerning online speech, โfalse information,โ insulting or hateful content, media platforms, and political expression have repeatedly been introduced or implemented.
Several of these measures have generated controversy both inside and outside South Korea over censorship and the chilling effect on free expression.
Against that background, the President is now personally directing government agencies to examine additional criminal measures concerning certain forms of expression.
This makes today's statement much more difficult to view as an isolated controversy.
It increasingly looks like a broader direction of government policy.
South Korea became a prosperous democracy because it moved away from authoritarian control and toward political freedom, open debate, and individual liberty.
That history makes the current direction particularly difficult to understand.
Saying that new sanctions will operate โwithout infringing on freedom of expressionโ does not, by itself, protect freedom of expression.
Freedom of speech is tested precisely when speech is offensive, unpopular, politically inconvenient, or deeply uncomfortable.
What concerns me most is not one offensive statement, one historical controversy, or even one particular law.
It is the accumulation of restrictions โ and the direction in which they are taking South Korea.
I have lived in this country my entire life, and increasingly, the South Korea I see today feels very different from the free Republic of Korea I have always known.โ
Juan O Savin, speaking in front of South Koreaโs National Election Commission, emphasized that there is very little time left to help the South Korean people and that outside assistance, including from the United States, is needed.
I was amazed by how well he understands exactly what is happening in South Korea.
Thank you so much.
๐จ๏ธ๐บ๐ธ๏ธ๐ฐ๐ท๏ธ Juan OโSavin Joins Koreaโs A-WEB Fight, Pushes U.S.โKorea Joint Investigation
Juan OโSavin has come to Korea, joined the Olympic Park election-integrity movement, connected publicly with Hwang Kyo-ahn, and is now trying to elevate A-WEB from a Korean conservative election issue into an international U.S.โKorea investigation centered on alleged Chinese interference.
๐จ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ท S.Korea's Joan of Arc
The woman now being called "Korea's Joan of Arc" is not Daejinyeon, not the People Power Party, and not part of any political organization.
She is an ordinary citizen who answered the call to defend her country.
She stood through the night at the Jamsil 7-dong polling station, endured forcible police detention, and carried bruises and injuries on her body.
She then traveled day after day to Olympic Park, refusing to abandon the fight for what she believes is a fair election.
Despite smears, false accusations, and relentless attacks, she held her ground.
Those closest to her say she is simply a patriotic South Korean with a warrior spirit who refuses to be intimidated.
All this bravery just to be scooped up by the police and taken away. She is an inspiration to Korea and it's patriots and I implore Korea's conservatives to contact the police and demand her release!
๐ฐ๐ท๐บ๐ฒ A warrior spirit cannot be erased by rumors or intimidation. ๐ฐ๐ท๐บ๐ฒ