<html><div style='background-color:'><DIV class=RTE>
<P>To: Brother Anthony</P>
<P>From Michael Anderson</P>
<P>I have signed one of the online petitions, <A href="http://www.petitiononline.com/hole64/petition.html">http://www.petitiononline.com/hole64/petition.html</A>, not as a Yonhap editor of course, but out of personal concerns. In addition to stifling free speech, it gives the appearance of racism--videos of Nick Berg's murder were widely distributed over the Internet here, and even aired on MBC television, while the government encouraged blocking of the South Korean national's beheading on video. </P>
<P>As you say, it's unsettling that a former human rights lawyer who is now South Korea's president has given his apparent approval to blocking access to selected Web sites here. I hope others will contact the South Korean government and media to express their disapproval.</P>
<P>Best Regards,</P>
<P>Michael Anderson</P>
<P><BR> </P></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>From: Brother Anthony <ansonjae@ccs.sogang.ac.kr>
<DIV></DIV>>Reply-To: Korean Studies Discussion List <Koreanstudies@koreaweb.ws>
<DIV></DIV>>To: koreanstudies@koreaweb.ws
<DIV></DIV>>Subject: [KS] Censorship in democratic Korea
<DIV></DIV>>Date: Wed, 07 Jul 2004 17:19:09 +0900
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>I believe that those subscribing to this list should know that we who live in Korea are being prevented by
<DIV></DIV>>a government order from viewing North Korea Zone http://nkzone.typepad.com/nkzone/ a blogzone reporting on
<DIV></DIV>>NK and run by Rebecca Mackinnon at Harvard, Martyn Williams in Tokyo and Dr Lankov from Australian National
<DIV></DIV>>University. They are anything but apologists for that regime, as many will know.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>This censorship, coming at a time when the GNP is reported to want to promote a law allowing South Koreans
<DIV></DIV>>to view legally North Korean internet sites, coincides with the government's continuing blocking of access
<DIV></DIV>>to any individual blog on all the main bloging sites worldwide, such as blogs.com, blogspot.com &
<DIV></DIV>>typepad.com, leaving millions of sites worldwide inaccessible to Koreans, including bloggers themselves
<DIV></DIV>>resident
<DIV></DIV>>here. We are deprived of access to sites as various as Baghdad Burning (featured in a recent BBC Radio 4
<DIV></DIV>>programme "Letters from Iraq")
<DIV></DIV>>http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/ Silliman's Blog http://ronsilliman.blogspot.com/ FatMan Seoul
<DIV></DIV>>http://fatman-seoul.blogspot.com/ and zillions of others.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>The government's aim, we are told, is to prevent anyone downloading and watching the beheading of the
<DIV></DIV>>unfortunate Korean victim of recent terror. At least 12 people have so far been arrested for sending this
<DIV></DIV>>clip to a friend or friends. It must be stressed that viewing and sharing video clips of the beheading of
<DIV></DIV>>any other (non-Korean) victim is not subject to any such restrictions.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>I would like to think that under the presidency of a former 'human rights lawyer' something less akin to
<DIV></DIV>>dictatorship would prevail but the facts suggest otherwise. I would be grateful if anyone reading this and
<DIV></DIV>>in a position to influence events could point out to the Korean authorities that such actions do not
<DIV></DIV>>promote the best interests of the country, to put it mildly.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>Brother Anthony
<DIV></DIV>>Sogang University, Seoul
<DIV></DIV>>
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