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Censorship in Korea
By Oh Byoung-il
On October 4, 1996, the Korean Constitutional Judgment Court ruled that the
censorship of films are unconstitutional. However, the "Kong-yun", the
office which has carried out government censorship up until now, has ignored
the ruling and continued its activities. The Kong-yun office prohibited such
films as "Buenos Aires," which won critical acclaim at the Cannes
International Film Festival, from entering Korea simply because it portrayed
a homosexual relationship. In another incident, the censorship board cut
nearly 20 minutes of film from prominent Korean film director, Jang,
Suhn-woo's film "Bad Movie."
It's not only movies that are faced with the knives of censorship; the
current mood in Korean society has taken a turn towards conservatism. All
types of media--film, cartoons, comics, literature, BBS <Bulletin Board
System>, Internet, and theater--are vulnerable to the knives of censorship.
Lee HyunSe, a comic book artist, was summoned to the prosecutor because his
work <myth of heaven> describes the birth of a human conceived between a
goddess and an animal. The Prosecutor claimed that the scene was obscene?!?
Besides this, prosecutors also bring cartoon writers and sports newspaper
editors to court for producing and publishing obscene or violent cartoons.
The prosecution's stated justification is to protect youth. Cartoonists of
sports papers nationwide protested this ruling by declaring a work stoppage,
and amateur cartoon writers of universities across the nation started the
"Association of Cartoon Writers of Universities." They asserted that the
government scape-goated cartoon writers to shirk from its responsibility for
failing to solve youth problem.
Even a novelist, Jang Jung-il, was arrested because of his work. In
cyberspace tens of IDs of BBS were stopped during last May and June. And in
Korea, the government's censorship of cyberspace will continue.
Behind these censorships is a law, the "Youth Protection Act." From July
1st, the "Youth Protection Act" was carried out with the aim of protecting
youth from harmful social environments. But the act has many problems.
First, it allows government pre-screening or pre-deliberation of every type
of media. Article 13 of the law forced media like records, videos, games,
and computer communications, to be labeled about how its potential
harmfulness before release to the public. The second problem is that the
criteria for determining "harmfulness" is ambiguous. It has language such
as "things which might have a bad influence on youth" as a criterion which
would merit censorship. A broad criterion like this creates vague boundaries
of what is censorable and leaves a lot of room for interpretation. That is,
it retains much leeway for an abusive violation of free speech.
Many social justice groups have rejected this, asserting that a broad
censorship of all media by the government cannot be a substantial plan to
protect youth. Especially, media-related organizations and groups are
gathering together to prepare a united struggle.
http://member.sing-kr.org/~antiropy
Oh Byoung-il <antiropy@member.sing-kr.org> is a representative of the Korean Social Information Networking Group. |
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Also in 1.05:
Appeal for Dismissed Television Journalists
Global Labour Directory of Directories
Rio+5 Forum and Follow-up
APC Programs |
