Seoul Eyes Crackdown on North Korean Internet Propaganda - PCWorld

Seoul Eyes Crackdown on North Korean Internet Propaganda - PCWorld

By Martyn Williams, IDG News Dec 22, 2010 3:40 am

The South Korean government plans to further restrict its citizens from accessing and relaying information on the Internet that is sympathetic to North Korea.

Outlining its plans for 2011, the country's Justice Ministry said it will "try to block North Korea's propaganda activity through social-networking services, such as Twitter."

The plans build on South Korea's existing Internet filtering and come at a time of increased tensions between the two neighbors.

Websites judged to be sympathetic to Pyongyang have been blocked by the South Korean government for several years. The sites are largely those of organizations based in China or Japan with links to North Korea. South Korean Internet users attempting to access the sites are redirected to a National Police Agency page indicating that the site is forbidden in South Korea.

Until recently, North Korean propaganda on social media networks wasn't much of a problem, but that changed in July when Uriminzokkiri, a China-based site with close ties to Pyongyang, opened a Twitter account.

The Twitter feed carried headlines and links to news stories on the organization's website. It was followed by a Facebook group and accounts on Flickr and YouTube. The Facebook page was quickly closed but the other accounts remain active.

Within a few weeks of its appearance, South Korean authorities moved to block access to the Twitter channel but the result was symbolic at best. While the account page is blocked, Twitter messages from the account can still be seen when the site is accessed via a secure HTTPS connection or via any of the hundreds of applications that use Twitter's API (application programming interface.)

The Twitter feed currently has 10,545 followers including some that appear to be in South Korea.

Under existing legislation, it is already illegal for South Koreans to take part in exchanges with North Korea without first getting permission from the South Korean government. The "Inter-Korea Exchange and Cooperation Act" provides for up to three years in prison or fines of up to 10 million won (US$8,660) for doing so.

The Justice Ministry hasn't detailed how it plans to limit the spread of North Korean propaganda in cyberspace, but this existing law could be part of its plans. Lawmakers said earlier this year that any attempts to communicate with North Korean social media accounts could be considered a violation.

The ministry also said it plans to crackdown on those circulating false reports on the Internet that could affect national security.

Earlier this month it indicted 19 people for spreading rumors in the wake of North Korea's shelling of Yeonpyeong Island. The 19 sent text messages saying or implying the government was calling up reserve military forces, but the government never did.

(Hyuna Kim in Seoul contributed to this report.)

Martyn Williams covers Japan and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Follow Martyn on Twitter at @martyn_williams. Martyn's e-mail address is martyn_williams@idg.com

Related articles

• Seoul Eyes Crackdown on North Korean Internet Propaganda (pcworld.com)
• North Withholds Fire After South Korean Drills - NYTimes.com (armwoodnews.com)
• China urges North Korea to accept nuclear inspectors - The China Post (armwoodnews.com)
• South Korea orders residents to take shelter in anticipation of drills - CNN.com (armwoodnews.com)

The Canadian Press: US rejects call in UN human rights body to abolish death penalty

The Canadian Press: US rejects call in UN human rights body to abolish death penalty

GENEVA — The United States dismissed international calls Tuesday to abolish the death penalty as friends and foes alike delivered their recommendations on how Washington can improve its human rights record.

U.S. State Department legal adviser Harold Koh said capital punishment was permitted under international law, brushing aside long-standing appeals by European countries and others to temporarily halt or completely abolish the death penalty, which critics say is inhumane and unfairly applied.

"While we respect those who make these recommendations, we note that they reflect continuing policy differences, not a genuine difference about what international law requires," Koh told the Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Council.

The call to abolish the death penalty was repeated throughout the list of 228 recommendations by other nations that formed part of the first comprehensive review of Washington's human rights record before the council.

Other nations also urged the U.S. to reduce overcrowding in prisons, ratify international treaties on the rights of women and children, and take further steps to prevent racial profiling.

Koh said the U.S. was committed to rooting out injustices and would seriously consider some of the recommendations, including one to sign a U.N. declaration on the rights of indigenous people.

But in response to recommendations made by adversaries such as Iran, Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea, Koh said some proposals were "plainly intended as political provocations, and cannot be taken seriously." He didn't elaborate.

Civil society groups have praised the United States for involving them in the review process, which all U.N. member states have to undergo every four years.

"This international engagement must be followed by concrete domestic policies and actions and a commitment to fixing all domestic human rights abuses, not just the ones that are most convenient," the director of the American Civil Liberties Union's human rights program, Jamil Dakwar, said in a statement.

Related articles

• Human rights abroad & #8212; and at home (politico.com)
• UN human rights council urges US to end death penalty (guardian.co.uk)