Frank La Rue, UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of
the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression visited South Korea for
attending international symposium on "Freedom of Opinion and Expression in
Cyber Space" and workshop on "Situation of Freedom of Expression in South
Korea and the Use of UN Special Procedures" between October 12 and October
15.
(Source: FORUM-ASIA member Peoples Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, 21 October 2009)
Mr. Frank La Rue, UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of
the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression visited South Korea for
attending international symposium on "Freedom of Opinion and Expression in
Cyber Space" and workshop on "Situation of Freedom of Expression in South
Korea and the Use of UN Special Procedures" between October 12 and October
15. These symposiums were held by the Korean Network for International
Human Rights, a network of human rights and civil organizations in Korea,
and Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (Forum-Asia), a regional
human rights organization, to identify the situation and challenges on the
freedom of expression and opinion in East Asia and to discuss common
strategies to work out problems.

The reason that the international symposiums on freedom of opinion and_expression in cyberspace in East Asia were held in South Korea is that
South Korea is a leading power in the development of information and
communication technology(ICT) as well as a economic power while the
Internet is one of the crucial communication means to enjoy the right to
freedom of opinion and expression.

Mr. Martyn See, a film maker who attended the international symposiums to
present a Singaporean case, said that any governments say it is a
democratic country, but large number of governments actually restrict the
right to freedom of opinion and expression in cyberspace and movie. He also
said that the symposiums were meaningful for sharing means and policies
restricting the right from each country.

Mr. Frank La Rue, UN Special Rapporteur met various social groups of South
Korea such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, National Human
Right Commission of Korea, the trade union of YTN(broadcasting company),
Minbyun(Lawyers for a Democratic Society), and so on. Mr. La Rue had
opportunities to have dialogues about the situation of severe oppression of
freedom of opinion and expression by the Lee Myung-bak government in South
Korea. On the last day of his visit, Mr. La Rue held a press dialogue to
present his reflection on the visit.

UN Special Rapporteur La Rue put a limitation on his comments on the
situation of freedom of expression and human rights of South Korea as his
visit was not an official visit but an academic visit. Nevertheless, he
emphasized that his visit was to contribute to reach an agreement to and
establishment of the principles for protection and promotion of the right
to freedom of opinion and expression. He put emphasis on that it is crucial
to protect and promote the right to freedom of opinion and expression in
cyberspace paralleling with technological advancement as mentioning that
information and communication technology is well developed and majority of
people enjoy the technological advancement in South Korea.

South Korea as a IT power and Symbol of Freedom of Expression, Is it Still
Valid Now?


The Special Rapporteur identified two positive aspects of globalisation of
communication while there were both positive and negative aspects.
Globalisation of communication has contributed to the world-wide agreement
to human rights and understanding on the concept of justice resulting in
establishment of the International Court of Justice and the International
Criminal Court. It has also contributed to more active forms of enjoyment
of the right to freedom of opinion and expression and democratic
participation by citizens as communication and access to information are
accompanied with development of new communication technologies.

Consequently, state obligations also change. Freedom of opinion and expression is used to be understood before as the non-intervention of the
state, as the lack of censorship, or as the protection of the journalists.
But now, it has to be understood, like all human rights, that the state has
a proactive obligation, that the state has to guarantee every single person
to enjoy the full exercise of freedom of expression and access to
information in a proactive way.

In terms of civil and political rights, freedom of opinion and expression
should be fully guaranteed by the state and the restriction on the freedom,
if necessary, should be deliberate and limited even for crimes or national
security. Of course, freedom of opinion and expression never be restricted
in order to avoid criticisms on government policies. Defamation of the
state or public officials cannot be also justified. The state and public
official deserve public scrutiny which links to public criticism. The
transparency of the state and public officials can be obtained from
criticism. Therefore, defamation of the state or public official cannot
make sense.

Mr. La Rue argued that the right to freedom of opinion and expression is an
economic, social and cultural right as well as a civil and political right.
Access to information as a part of the right to freedom of opinion and expression also belongs to the right to development. That is, citizens can
fully enjoy and participate in social and economic development only if the
right to access to information and communication is guaranteed. He argued
the right to access to information and communication should be included
into the UN Millenium Development Goals.

Lastly, the Special Rapporteur commented about the false reports of the
Conservative, right-wing and oligopolistic daily newspapers, Choun Ilbo and
Dona-A Ilbo, saying that UN Special Rapporteur is exposed to distorted
human rights situation of South Korea as meeting only left-biased
organizations and figures while refusing to meet the Ministry of Justice.
Mr. La Rue argued that he was invited by Forum-Asia, a regional human rights
organization and he was open to anyone and willing to meet as many people
as possible. He mentioned his meetings with scholars of Korea University,
Mistry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, National Human Right Commission of
Korea and so on. He added that he wanted to meet a reporter from those
right wing newspapers, and he was profoundly sorry that they did not try to
interview before writing such distorted articles.

Visit to South Korea was a crucial opportunity for Mr. La Rue as a Special
Rapporteur to be acquainted with oppression of freedom of opinion and expression by the Lee Myung-bak government last 2 years. Especially, the
false reports by Chosun Ilbo and Dong-A Ilbo gave him very impressive
experience for understanding the contemporary situation of South Korea.

New means of oppression of freedom of opinion and expression such as e-mail
seizure and search by prosecutors and deleting articles on the Internet,
which contain criticisms on government, are mobilized under the Lee
Myung-bak government. When Mr. La Rue was asked to comment on such
violations, he was unable to figure out what they are since these are new
types of oppression means as communication technologies develop. He was
shocked with such manipulative means.

Mr. La Rue said he may consider his official visit to South Korea since it
is a symbolic country for issues of freedom of opinion and expression and
access to information. He said four-day visit provided him a lot of
information, but it was yet not sufficient to full picture for
understanding the situation of South Korea regarding his mandates.

A UN special rapporteur needs a official state invitation to hold an
official visit. It is ironic that the Lee government extended
"standing invitation" last year, meaning it is welcoming and open
to official visit. However, it needs to see what is the response of the Lee
government when a special rapporteur asks an official invitation.

During the symposiums, all of participants emphasized that freedom of
opinion and expression is a measure for democracy. PSPD urges that the Lee
government protect and guarantee human rights and freedom of opinion and expression if it wants to be called a democratic country, and accept the UN
Special Rapporteur on protection and promotion on the right to freedom of
opinion and expression if it is asked to invite.

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Also related:
Eight-minute documentary "Freedom of _Expression in South Korea" (Youtube) , produced for the symposium