South Korean Man Given Suspended Sentence For Retweeting NK Propaganda

tukang writes "Park Jung-geun, 24, of South Korea has been given a 10 month suspended prison sentence for violating the country's National Security Law, which prohibits 'praising, encouraging or propagandizing' North Korea, by retweeting over 100 North Korean propaganda posts."

Comments

Thank goodness...

[hawks5999]

If people keep retweeting that kind of propaganda it might infect South Korea with totalitarianism and restrictions on things like speech.

Re:Thank goodness...

[ryzvonusef]

From the articles:

Mr. Park, who is 24 years old, had told the court he spread the messages as a way of lampooning North Korea. ...

“There is something left to be desired in the court ruling that (my act was) intended to benefit the enemy though,” he added. “The National Security Law should be revised as quickly as possible.

In a North Korean post that he tweaked and sent out on Twitter, he replaced a swarthy North Korean soldier’s face with a downcast version of his own and the soldier’s rifle with a bottle of whiskey.

  In his ruling, the presiding judge, Shin Jin-woo, acknowledged that some of Mr. Park’s posts were parody. But he said Mr. Park’s overall acts were tantamount to “supporting and joining forces with an antistate entity.” The justice said his court suspended the prison term, however, because Mr. Park promised not to repeat his act.

  Prosecutors argued that Mr. Park’s Twitter posts served as a dangerous tool for spreading North Korean propaganda.

Re:Thank goodness...

[Meeni]

They are still at war with NK, you know. It's been 60 years, but they are still at war. And not always cold, as the bombing of civilians last year recall, or the sinking of navy units 2 years ago by a submarine. Praising a country you are actively at war with is often seen as treason, even in free countries. You may or may not agree, but it is not unusual.

I'm curious...

[ctk76]

I'm genuinely curious. What would happen in the US if I tweet messages praising Al-Qaeda and retweeted their propaganda and warnings about terrorism?

retweet!

[schlachter]

You would need to pack your belongings and immediately retweet to a safer location like Iwan.

Re:Different Counties Have Different Laws.

[tnk1]

Canada also has laws against disrespecting the queen (more specifically, alarming her in any way). There's also a law that says you may not be in a residential area at night (prowling), amongst other silly laws that rarely get enforced. Let's not forget the hate speech laws...

This doesn't mean these countries (including mine) aren't absolutely idiotic for having them.

There are a lot of crazy people who, for some reason, like discharging unloaded firearms at or in the presence of royalty. I think it has happened to Queen Elizabeth at least once and it happened to Queen Victoria a few times, and neither perpetrator was doing it for any other reason than being crazy. Basically, since the firearm was unloaded, it was was not an attack, but discharging firearms or making loud noises like that around the head of state is usually not a good thing for anyone. That is why countries associated with the UK may have laws about "alarming" the monarch, because the usual cause of the alarm involves explosions, firearms, or situations that are particular to being a head of state.

I agree, though, there are a lot of silly laws out there, but something like lese majeste, used to be a very serious crime when monarchies were not as constitutional as they are now, and even most common people might call for it to be enforced. In Thailand, they still make great use of that law, but ironically, it is actually used more by the elected government against people criticizing the country than by the King himself. The King frequently pardons people accused of that crime. Of course, with everything having to do with Thailand, it is not entirely certain how much the King is involved in the actual governance. Some people think he's purely a figurehead, except his great popularity, and some think that he's quietly running the whole thing himself.

Re:actions reveal reality

[HungWeiLo]

You ain't kidding about the overreach of corporations in SK. It's as close to a real-life Omni Consumer Products as it's going to get.

In Korea, it's possible to leave from your Samsung-constructed apartment complex using the Samsung-constructed elevator, and get into your Samsung-built car to drive to a Samsung-owned eatery before going to work in a Samsung subsidiary.