South Korea / Asia

  
Korean-America writer and talk show host Shin Eun-mi is deported from South Korea after making positive comments about North Korea. (AP/Yonhap Shin Joon-hee)

In South Korea, deportation and defamation cases mark slide in press freedom

South Korea has been hailed by many as a bastion for democracy and press freedom, especially in comparison to its twin to the north, which for years has been featured on the Committee to Protect Journalists’ most censored list. However the recent stifling of critical voices in South Korea, including cases of arrests, deportation, and…

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Under President Lee, more restrictive news media policies. (AP/Jo Yong-Hak)

In well-wired South Korea, all is not well for press freedom

CPJ ranks North Korea, with no independent media, as the world’s most censored state. South Korea, with a wide-open press, seldom comes in for criticism. The high-tech, economic powerhouse is ranked as one of the most intensely wired nations in the world, and South Koreans enjoy near universal Internet access. But all is not well…

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Internet blotter

Computers belonging to South Korean government officials have been infiltrated by targeted malware in email. Chinese hackers are suspected. Contrary to what this article says, I’m betting that the attachments were PDFs, which are currently the document of choice when attempting to infect journalists’ machines. Another intriguing academic paper, this time on the structure of…

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Korea Times: Censorship on pro-NK websites tightens

The Korea Times documents the disturbing increase in censorship of writing about North Korea, with the police forcing website operators to remove 42,787 pro-North Korean comments. This may be due to an increase in North Korean government attempts to enter the online debate, but some point to the general anti-Net sentiment of the Lee administration.…

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