34 Asia The EconomistAugust 22nd 2020
2Banyan Sensitive Seoul
S
outh koreahas a proud history of
noisy opposition to the powers that
be. Japanese colonisers found their
subjects unruly. Homegrown military
dictators, who brutally suppressed their
citizens’ democratic yearnings for de-
cades, eventually yielded to widespread
protests. Even democratically elected
leaders have incurred the wrath of civil
society. Park Geun-hye, the predecessor
of Moon Jae-in, the current president,
was chased out of office in 2017 after
millions of South Koreans took to the
streets to decry rampant corruption in
her government.
Ms Park’s left-wing successors had
vowed to do better. Mr Moon, a former
activist and human-rights lawyer, and
his Minjoo party claim to embody the
legacy of the pro-democracy movement.
They promised to honour the spirit of the
protests that swept them to power. The
country would become more egalitarian.
The government would be more open,
tolerant of dissent and responsive.
Those good intentions seem to be
flagging. Opponents of the government
are again finding that their views may
attract litigation rather than benign
indifference or even constructive re-
sponses. Nearly a fifth of civil libel suits
against media organisations last year
involved senior officials, more than
during Ms Park’s administration.
Last month the president’s office
appealed against a court ruling that
cleared a conservative newspaper of
defaming Mr Moon’s wife in an opinion
column (the writer mused over whether
the couple’s official overseas trips were
too heavy on sightseeing). A right-wing
YouTuber has been jailed for spreading
rumours about Cho Kuk, a former senior
official in Mr Moon’s government (Mr
Cho has since been disgraced). The Min-joo party lodged a criminal complaint
against a political-science professor after
she criticised it for being self-serving and
suggested that progressives should vote
for other parties; the complaint was with-
drawn after a public outcry. ngos led by
North Korean refugees who dislike the
government’s conciliatory stance towards
the North have lost their non-profit status
and allege police harassment.
There is trouble in the legislature, too.
Earlier this month Minjoo lawmakers
proposed a bill that would grant the gov-
ernment the power to order the media to
correct “fake news” (a similar bill was
proposed by the conservatives in 2017).
Another set of bills being considered seeks
to punish anyone spreading “distorted”
historical accounts of a crackdown in 1980
on pro-democracy protesters.
Park Kyung-sin, a law professor and
free-speech advocate at Korea University,
thinks the government’s touchiness in the
face of criticism has its roots in “a long-
standing vendetta between progressives
and the conservative media”. Even in
government, left-wingers have not shedtheir self-image as underdogs. They tend
to think of certain media outlets as arms
of political parties, and have a “siege
mentality” when it comes to their critics.
Activists forged their political identi-
ties against a military dictatorship im-
placably hostile to their aims, so oppo-
nents’ freedom of expression was not a
priority. South Korean politics—and
many media organisations—remain
polarised, with cross-party co-operation
virtually unheard of. Loyalty to one’s own
camp is prized above all. Kim Kyung-
ryul, a progressive intellectual who
broke with his former comrades over
attitudes to Mr Cho’s conduct earlier this
year, has likened the two main parties to
“backstreet gangster groups” serving
only their own interests.
Mr Park is keen to stress that current
developments are less worrying than the
systematic use of criminal defamation
law against political opponents that
occurred under previous administra-
tions. Some Minjoo lawmakers are still
trying to soften the country’s punitive
defamation laws, whereby journalists
and ordinary citizens can get long prison
sentences for damaging reputations,
even if their offending statements are
true. Despite the recent litigiousness of
some of their colleagues, South Korea’s
rank on the world press-freedom index is
higher than it was a few years ago.
South Korean politicians love to
quote ancient wisdom. The government
might do well to ponder the words of
King Sejong, a model ruler and rich
source of inspiring quotations from the
Joseon era. “I am neither virtuous, nor
skilful at governing. There will definitely
be times when I do not act upon the
heavens’ wishes. So look hard for my
flaws and make me answer to their repri-
mands,” he said, in 1425.A government of former democracy activists is surprisingly prickly when criticisedIn 2018 fatawas merged into Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa province. The idea was that
making the region less of an administra-
tive oddity would grant residents more po-
litical rights and perk up investment. But
the struggles of local students to get online
are just one illustration of how far there is
to go. In much of the region the internet is
restricted to the largest towns. Govern-
ment offices and army bases get priority,
say residents. Izhar Uddin, a 20-year-old
studying computer science who lives in
South Waziristan, says officials have of-
fered to help students get online at govern-ment offices in Wanna, the district capital.
But that is nearly 100km from his home. He
has chosen instead to live with his cousin
in Dera Ismail Khan, a better-connected
city about three hours’ drive away.
The government of Khyber Pakh-
tunkhwa province, run by the Pakistan
Tehreek-e-Insaf, the party of the prime
minister, Imran Khan, says internet con-
nections are a priority. But telecoms is a
federal matter. Federal ministers also nur-
ture digital dreams of putting government
services online and creating apps. Few in-
ternet and mobile-network providers,however, see much profit in wiring up
sparsely populated districts.
Moreover, policymakers often view in-
ternet access as a source of instability, says
Usama Khilji, who researches internet
rights for an ngo. That may explain the
shortage of the mobile-phone signals that
provide internet access in the most remote
and insecure parts of the rest of the world.
Security in the tribal districts has improved
since the army drove out the Taliban, but
the generals still call the shots. Even the ex-
isting internet connections sometimes get
switched off. 7