Introduction
The significance of social media within Korean society has been widely discussed, yet there is
more to examine concerning its function in a global context. For instance, much of the dis-
course relating to Korean activism suggests that the state played a central role in demarcating the
transnationality of online practices. In so doing, non-state actors are viewed as operating solely
via state-centric Internet policies. However, it has also been noted that, to a certain extent, these
policies were ultimately unsuccessful due to the transnationality of social media users’ “traversal-
ity,” in effect, their everyday online practices as a spatiotemporal experience. Therefore, while the
state’s intervention had a substantial impact on the development of Korean social media culture,
the relationship between social media and activism can best be understood by undertaking a
more comprehensive evaluation. This chapter addresses the significance of Korean online users’
practices and develops a framework to better understand such practices within the context of
social media.
Examinations of social media frequently begin by identifying its influence on political acti-
vism. Social media is viewed as a tactical tool employed by ordinary people to make their voices
heard, thereby radically changing the underlying logic of structures substantiated by those in
power. However, the use of social media as a tool for social activism did not just appear out of
the blue. Rather, social media use is based on ordinary online users’ daily online activities, which
enable ordinary people to go beyond certain structures, thus already effecting a transformation
of the logic of power structures. I argue that the everyday use of social media forms an invisible
authority that incrementally changes the zeitgeist. My use of the term “cyberspace” refers to
people’s spatiotemporal experience when online, increasing the latter’s development and signi-
ficance as it plays out in the real world (Song 2012, 5). To reinforce this argument, I employ
Michel de Certeau’s notion of everyday life and M.I. Franklin’s concept of “cyberscape” to
develop an understanding of the expansion of cyberspace through the traversality of social
media users.
This chapter begins with a brief history of the culture of Korean social media through
notable events and emergent technology. I introduce popular practices and actions derived
from adopting new technology and the resultant embedding of social media within Korean
society. The cyber asylum-seeking phenomenon will be examined in terms of the effect