South Korea has become one of the most wired nations in the world and its experiences with digital democracy provide real-life case studies. While South Korea has benefited economically from widespread internet access, the government and companies have also imposed new rules and regulations to limit any political or reputational harms from increased online activity. These include real name verification systems, restrictions on online anonymity, and censorship of certain political discussions. Portal journalism in South Korea, through sites like Naver and Daum, helped facilitate large protests but also spread misinformation. New regulations have since been imposed on online media.

1. South Korea as the World’s Most Wired Nation:
Its Digital Democracy as a Real-Life Case Study
by Sang Jo Jong, Professor of Law, Seoul National University
Abstract:
Many countries, no matter developed or developing, have attempted to harness internet technologies
to generate economic growth and development while facing their enormous impact on politics at the
same time. Being one of the most wired country in the world, Korea must have benefited the most
from the internet. As is often the case in many countries, however, the Government and large
companies in Korea try to limit any political or reputational harm that might accompany the growth of
Internet economy. There have been many analyses and comments on the causal links between new
media like internet and democracy. A real-life case study on Korea, especially on its digital
democracy, may demonstrate that democracy does not come true in vaccum but only with well
balanced rules, regulations, market forces, citizens’ awareness, and so on. Korean experiments on
what is called a real name verification system, three strike rule, internet curfew, internet users exile to
foreign portals are just some of our real-life cases. The speaker hopes a case study on Korea may
provide a small starting point for a much richer and a much more scholatic discussion in the coming
conference on New Media and Democracy.
1 Thank you for your introduction.
I am honored to be with you here at School of Journalism and
Communication, University of Oregon. To be honest, I have not
taken any course on Journalism or Communications. Frankly, I am
a bit nervous to speak before some of the most distinguished
communications professors, especially Prof. Kyu ho Youm who
has been a great mentor of mine. So, it is a great privilege for me
to talk to such scholars.

2. Let me take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the
Center for Asian and Pacific Studies and Dr. Myung Sup Lim for
his sponsorship and Prof. Bish Sen and his team for their
enormous efforts in organizing this conference. And, also, Thank
you, to all of participants, for coming here from all over the US.
Any questions and any comments during or after my talk will be
appreciated.
Let me begin by asking you a question: It’s about coffee shops.
What city has the largest number of Starbucks coffee shops?
2 Starbucks
Starbucks was initially established in Seattle, Nonetheless, the
largest number of its coffee shops is not in the U.S. or anywhere
else but in Seoul, Korea. Do you Know WHY? Maybe because
Starbucks is an American company and Koreans are more Americanized
than any other nations including Americans themselves. Maybe because
WIFI is available at Starbucks and because Koreans love to use
WIFI there. Korean youngsters do not talk at Starbucks but simply
send text messages or email. And outside of Starbucks, Koreans

3. enjoy internet access even in the underground subway or metro.
Starbucks is just one of evidences that Korea is heavily wired and
Koreans are almost addicted to internet connection.
3 Impact of Internet
The impacts of the Internet have been enormous in each and
every sector of our society, not only in Korea but all over the
world: As you know, young people do not subscribe for news
papers any longer but simply click news on the internet. That’s
why and how politics and economies face sweeping changes. The
Internet provides effective tools in mobilizing a large number of
people, raising hundreds of million dollars, distributing
entertainment products, and so on. Regarding politics, it is
interesting to note that, as was the case in the Presidential
campaign for Obama here in the US and for Roh Moo Hyun in
Korea, the Democrats are more, much more active, than
Republicans in utilizing the internet. And, it is also worth noting
that Democrats are more generous and liberal to freedom of
expression even in entertainment contents. So, now Let us look at

4. the trilateral relations among the internet, democracy and the
entertainment industry. Let me begin with Psy’s Gangnam Style,
one of the most successful Korean popular media items or what is
called K-Pop.
4 Entertainment: Success of Gangnam Style
As you see here at Youtube, Gangnam Style received more than
2 billion views over Youtube and it turned out to be the most
watched video ever in the history of Youtube. Its singer, Psy, was
born in the 1970’s during the military dictatorship in Korea. Can
you imagine that a singer, who was raised under military
authoritarian culture, now made one of the most popular music
video? There is no doubt that his Gangnam Style could not have
been so successful without the Internet channel like Youtube. His
success clearly demonstrates the internet has established itself as
the most efficient channel of distribution of contents and
information all over the world.
5 My Love from the Star
The same is true with entertainment industry in China as well.

5. For example, a Korean soap drama called “My Love from the Star”
became a huge success in China and it was streamed more than
2.5 billion times on a Chinese internet platform iQiyi. iQiyi is
equivalent to Youtube in China. The Korean drama took China by
storm. In one episode of the drama, the main characters enjoyed
“beer and fried chicken.” “beer and fried chicken” or what is
called “Chimaek” in Korean suddenly became one of the most
favorite snack in China. Restaurants cashed in and started selling
“Chimaek.” Although Chinese farmers had been suffering from
Chicken Flu before, they soon got over it. One day, well aware of
the craze the drama has created in China, one committee of China’
s National People’s Congress spent a whole morning debating why
China couldn’t make a show as good as “My Love from the Star.”
Chinese officials came to the conclusion that there were too my
regulations and rigorous censoring procedure in China.
Exactly the same debates took place in Korea as well / about
three decades ago.
6 De-regulation in Korea

6. About 30 years ago, there were so many regulations and
censorship in Korea. In the middle of the 1980’s, during the course
of trade negotiations between the US and Korea, the Motion
Pictures Exporters Association of America filed a complaint
regarding regulations and screen quotas on films. It took several
years for the Korean government’s deregulation to take effect in
the film industry. Once the screen quota was lowered, Hollywood's
share of the Korean movie market had reached a peak of around
80 percent, and the local film industry's share fell to a low of only
16 percent. Around that time, Hollywood's film “Jurassic
Park” was extremely popular in Korea. And, many Koreans
realized that the revenue from one film like Jurassic Park was
equivalent to the revenue from selling 1.5 million automobiles. The
then President Young Sam Kim encouraged huge investment in
film industry. However, it was obvious to film makers in Korea /
that investment of money was not enough for creativity but extra
elements, more essential conditions, like freedom of expression,
were necessary. (for their creativity).

7. 7 Constitutionality of Mandatory Review System
As you know, freedom of expression had existed under the
Constitution even long before democratization. And, yet, films,
newspapers and other media could not enjoy the freedom under
the military authoritarian governments. Only from 1987, when our
society was democratized under a new Constitution, from then,
people and the media began to try and understand and slowly
realize what freedom meant to ourselves. About 4 years later, film
makers brought a constitutional complaint to the Constitutional
Court of Korea claiming that “mandatory review” of all films by
the Korea Public Performance Ethics Committee was like a
government censorship contrary to the new Constitution. The
burning issue was whether the mandatory review by an
independent committee was equivalent to government censorship
or not. It was clear from statutory provisions of the then Films Act
that, although the Committee was defined as an independent
institute, the Committee had the power to review all films / and all
of its members were appointed by the Minister of Culture. So, the

8. Constitutional Court of Korea held that the mandatory review
system by the Committee was government censorship which was
prohibited under Article 21 of the Constitution of Korea. Since the
mandatory review system was invalidated as unconstitutional, the
Films Act was then revised to replace the Ethics Committee with a
Video Rating Committee. So, I can tell you that Korean people
fought for freedom and the Constitutional Court confirmed it.
What does that mean to our society?
8 Impact of Freedom on the Film Industry
Once freedom was achieved, creativity flowed in the market. So,
there were made a series of successful films. Just three years after
the Constitutional Court Decision, the film industry of Korea
turned into an industry / full of creativity and an industry
contributing to our economy as well. Do you know what elements
those successful films have in common? The film on the left,
“Shiri,” is about North Korean spies sent to South Korea and the
film on the right, “Welcome to Dong Mag,” deals with a very
dangerous friendship among soldiers of South and North Korea

9. and citizens in a village where there was a terrible battle between
soldiers. Such topics as spies or the Korean War were so sensitive
that domestic film makers could not make films about those topics
under the previous mandatory review systems. Now, freedom
allows for any information or any idea / to be shared not only for
democracy but for the entertainment industry and our economy
as well. So, It is fair to say that there is no government censorship
any longer in the field of films, newspapers and other traditional
media in Korea.
Do we have the same freedom over the Internet?
9 Freedom over the Internet?
Due to the internet’s unique features of connectivity and
interactivity, we may enjoy more freedom over the internet and,
theoretically, we may be closer to a participatory democracy
online. There are many good examples. E-mails played a central
role in China when Falungong members secretly planned and
organised a mass demonstration in Beijing in 1999. Although not a
primary catalyst for the Arab Spring, there was no doubt social

10. media and digital technologies played a crucial role. Social media
allowed Arabic people an efficient means for collective activism to
circumvent state-operated media channels.
Likewise, In Korea, Internet and text messaging also assisted in
mobilizing more than 100,000 people downtown Seoul. When there
were concern about importing US beef infected by Mad Cow
Disease, almost instantly internet users organized a huge crowd of
“Candlelight Protests.” The Internet was extremely powerful in
distributing not only facts but also false comments, scientifically
wrong information as well. I will get back to this issue later.
At this moment, I would like to ask you another question. In What
country do you enjoy the fastest internet speed?
10 The Fastest Internet Speed?
Although the internet was initially developed in the United States,
the Internet penetrated the mind of Korean people deeply and
there realized its fastest speed ever in the world. In addition,
Korea ranks number one in smartphone penetration as well. The
majority of Korean people, definitely most of young Koreans, use

11. their smartphone for internet access. That means Korea is the
most wired country in the world / and the Internet has become an
essential part of life in Korea.
Why and how?
First of all, Parents in Korea, who tend to place a high value on
education, see internet connection as a necessity for their
children's education. Secondly, as I mentioned, the Democrats
especially Presidents Kim and Roh benefited from the Internet and
so they were well aware of the importance of internet and very
much in favor of high-speed Internet connections all over Korea.
The government under the Democratic Party tried its best to hook
up housewives, farmers, and low-income people with broadband
internet / and taught them how to make use of the Web in their
everyday lives. Internet and Democracy have had a great synergy
effect in Korea.
Being one of the most wired countries in the world, Korea should
have benefited the most from the internet. But, at the same time,
digital democracy in Korea may have suffered very much from

12. new rules and regulations such as a real name verification system,
three strike rules, internet curfew. and so on. Now, Let’s see how
these rules and regulations affect portal journalism in Korea.
11 Portal Journalism in Korea
When the US and Korean Governments concluded the Free Trade
Agreement, some Koreans opposed it for a variety of reasons.
Among them, there was a concern about the possibility of
importing US beef infected by Mad Cow Disease. The US beef
protests started in May 2008 and the number of protesters
increased to more than 100,000 in an instant. During the course of
the protests, portal journalism attracted a lot of public attention.
Internet portals like Naver and Daum, which are equivalents to
Google in Korea, supplement and replace traditional media.
Internet cafe, blogs and other portal sites in Korea not simply
distributed news and information but provided the general public
with a wonderful public forum for debates as well.
12 Messages at Internet Cafe “Agora”
When you look at messages and comments which are uploaded

13. on internet cafe and blogs, you will be able to understand a bit
unique feature of portal journalism in Korea. You see more than
half messages at the internet cafe discuss the then President
Myung Bak Lee and the Beef Protests themselves. Given the fact
that comments on the President and the beef protests were the
most hot news items, internet portals were not so different from
traditional media. However, if you see the second largest group of
messages / dealing with newspapers and ad boycott issues, you
will be able to notice serious tension and competition between
newspapers and internet portals. Newspapers tend to address
relatively conservative old generation and take substantially
critical views against the protests. By contrast, internet portals are
heavily used by much younger generation and so naturally
internet portals reflect the young generation’s frustration with
traditional media. The young generation’s frustration grew to the
point of boycotting goods or services from a company providing
advertisement on newspapers. Although less than 10%, a
devastating blow came from messages or comments on MCD.

14. Actually, it was found later that a majority of those comments on
MCD had little basis in science and most of them were simply
cherry picking arguments. Unfortunately, however, ordinary
internet users have difficulty in distinguishing scientific
information from cherry picking arguments. What is the role of
portal journalism here? What are we supposed to do about false
information over the internet?
13 Responses to US Beef Protests
US Beef Protests turned out to be one of the most critical points
where internet portals and users had to decide how to respond.
Many of internet users might have thought that Internet arguably
replaced traditional media in facilitating participatory democracy.
At the same time, there were many commentators pointing out too
much politicization and too much agitation with straw man
arguments over the internet. Regrettably, these incidents became
a tipping point for additional rules and regulations to intervene.
There is no doubt that government censorship on traditional
media has almost disappeared. And, yet, we are now facing

15. another censorship over the internet, that is, Voluntary
censorship by ISP. Before moving to the issue of difference
between traditional censorship and internet censorship, I am
going to ask you another question: What Country is the Most
Notorious One for its Internet Censorship?
14 Internet Censorship
Surprisingly, US is also extremely busy with monitoring internet
activities. Why? As you know, the definition of censorship has
changed over centuries. But, the basic idea behind it is simple and
has gone untouched all the time: the protection of national
security, individual reputation, copyright and so on. After 911
terrorist attacks, the US government strengthened its capability to
monitor internet activities all over the world. Korean Government
has also justified its internet censorship to defend any Military
attacks from North Korea. Let me see just one of examples of
cyberwar easily raised by North Korea:
15 Threats from North Korea
You might have heard of an American political satire comedy

16. film “Interview” produced by Sony Pictures. In the film, two of
American journalists eventually assassinate North
Korean leader Kim Jong-un after booking an interview with him.
Just before releasing the film last year, Sony Pictures
was hacked by a group the FBI believes has ties to North Korea.
In addition to cyber hacking, the group uploaded defamatory
materials over the internet. Almost at the same time, a spokesman
for North Korea made an official statement saying that "[Mr]
Obama always goes reckless in words and deeds like a monkey in a
tropical forest." Presumably, retaliation was made against North
Korea, that is, a total internet black out in North Korea for about
10 hours. You know what happened? All of the internet users, who
uploaded dozens of anti-government agitating messages everyday,
suddenly disappeared during the blackout period. Those heavy
uploaders, who disappeared during the black out, must have been
from North Korea.
16 Back to Internet Censorship
Traditionally, Censorship means the control or suppression by

17. the Government, control of broadcasting or publication of
information or ideas. Now, in the internet age, the Government
does not have to control information online by itself. When a
government, a company, or an individual has legitimate interest to
protect over the internet, like national security, reputation,
copyright and so on, then it can simply request internet service
providers to take down wrongful materials. What if there is no
such request by the victim? According to a decision of the
Supreme Court of Korea, when ISPs are presumed to know there is
any defamatory material on their websites, they are obliged to take
them down. A difficult problem here is ISPs do not know for sure
whether and where there is any defamatory material. That’s how
ISPs begin to monitor internet activities. That’s the starting point
of what is called a voluntary internet censorship.
17 Limits of Censorship by ISPs
The most common technology taken by ISPs is to filter and block
certain unlawful materials based on certain keywords. However,
keywords based technology may not distinguish right from false

18. information and critical from defamatory ones. As you see, there
are several million comments uploaded everyday on tens of
million blogs and several million cafe, Can you expect ISPs to take
down all of these wrongful materials? Internet censorship is not
only contrary to freedom of expression but simply inefficient and
unsatisfactory to everybody. Especially, government officials in
Korea were uncomfortable about the fact that online wrongdoers
were difficult to detect and difficult to punish. That’s how the real
name verification system was introduced and strengthened over
the years.
18 Real Name Verification System
The real name verification system was introduced initially to
identify the age of internet users. For example, when there is a
statutory provision limiting website access to adults or those who
are older than certain age, then the real name verification is
required to enforce the age limit. The age limit and real name
verification was designed to protect young children from
pornography, violent games, gambles and other illegal sites.

19. Soon the same system expanded its coverage to reduce false
information, defamatory comments and other wrongful materials
over the internet. For that policy goal, the Internet Promotion Act
was amended to require certain web sites and their users to verify
their identity before posting comments. Web sites with more than
100,000 visitors a day, that is, approximately 150 popular sites and
major newspaper sites, were subject to the statutory obligation to
follow the real name verification system. There had been criticism
and worries that, unlike the title of the Act, the Internet Promotion
Act might not have promoted internet use under the real name
verification system.
19 The Fight for Freedom of Expression
There were many commentators claiming unconstitutionality of
the real name verification system. Especially, the system arguably
makes internet users’ personal information more fragile and more
vulnerable to misuse and infringement. More important from a
portal journalism point of view is probably its chilling effect on
freedom of expression. So, the fight for freedom of expression

20. over the internet went to the Constitutional Court of Korea. The
Government defended the system as necessary to protect social
order, reputation and other legitimate interests over the internet.
However, it’s extremely difficult for the Court to compare those
conflicting interests. During the course of the court proceedings,
several interesting evidences were submitted to the Court. For
example, there was an evidence showing that internet users
moved to foreign web sites. Ironically, the Internet Promotion Act
and its real name verification system could not promote domestic
websites but helped foreign websites like Youtube or Facebook to
attract many of Korean users. The Court also found that the
system was inefficient and unnecessary to achieve its policy goal.
Eventually, the court held the system violated the constitutional
freedom of expression.
20 Back to Internet Censorship
Wrapping up my talk,
Korea, as the most wired country in the world, has clearly
demonstrated the fact that Internet is one of the most efficient

21. tools to generate economic growth especially in the field of
entertainment industry. We saw enormous impact of new media
like internet on democracy as well. However, portal journalism
and internet democracy may be moulded differently from country
to country. Partly they depend on rules and regulations in each
country. My real life case study on Korea reveals portal journalism
and regulations may be affected partly by community values or
constitutional values and partly by market force as well.
It would be my great honor if my talk could become a source of
discussion tomorrow. I look forward to a wonderful conference
tomorrow.
Thank you. I will be happy to take questions.