KOREA: 'Netizens' go too far in denouncing impeachment

The National Election Commission (NEC) and the police on Tuesday vowed to punish Internet users going too far in slandering opposition party lawmakers for voting for the impeachment motion against President Roh Moo-hyun

The Korea Times
Tuesday, March 16, 2004

By Byun Duk-kun

The National Election Commission (NEC) and the police on Tuesday vowed to punish Internet users going too far in slandering opposition party lawmakers for voting for the impeachment motion against President Roh Moo-hyun.

"We have secured a number of articles among those posted on the Internet to denounce the impeachment motion that may have violated the election law," a police official was quoted as saying.

The NEC and the police are now trying to trace the original authors of the slanderous articles, according to the official.

The NEC based their decision on the premise that many Internet articles protesting the opposition-led impeachment of the president, such as the list of 193 opposition lawmakers who voted to oust President Roh, may be violating the election law, which prohibits pre-electioneering more than 17 days before an election day.

Still, the election commission and the police are having trouble locating the original writers of such articles, because a large number of Internet users simply copy the original article and then post it elsewhere.

The police said such an act of `reposting’ a slanderous article may also be subject to punishment according to the election law.

The only problem is that there are just too many.

Tens of thousands of people, online and offline, protested the National Assembly’s passage of the nation’s first impeachment motion filed against the president by the main opposition Grand National Party (GNP) and the minor opposition Millennium Democratic Party (MDP).

Opposition lawmakers have been subject to excessive slandering and even death threats by angry citizens and pro-Roh supporters.

Thousands of articles also filled major Internet sites such as Daum, Naver and Yahoo to denounce the opposition party lawmakers and their passage of the impeachment.

The NEC said such articles may also constitute a violation of the election law, as well as the criminal law, because they may be viewed as a blackballing movement against specific lawmakers and candidates in the April 15 National Assembly elections.

Writers of such articles may also be subject to libel suits, because their articles include slanderous accusations against the lawmakers without any proof, according to the police official.

The police also urged the people to use their computers more maturely and wisely.

One of the widespread articles against the opposition lawmakers on the Internet denounces the opposition lawmakers by depicting them as auction items, while providing the complete list of all 193 opposition lawmakers who voted to oust President Roh.

Some of the articles posted on some of the Internet cafes were mired in abusive language, while others were filled with more foul language and threats to "kill" the opposition lawmakers and their leaders.

The entire or part of Internet homepages of opposition party leaders and lawmakers, including those of GNP chairman Choe Byung-yul, GNP floor leader Hong Sa-duk and the MDP chairman Chough Soon-hyung, were shut down shortly after the National Assembly endorsed the motion to impeach the president last Friday, and still remain closed due to thousands of angry netizens posting threat notes and protesting articles.

Date Posted: 3/16/2004