[KS] ROK Constitutional Court upholds the military's book ban, including HaJoon Chang

Afostercarter at aol.com Afostercarter at aol.com
Fri Oct 29 02:06:39 EDT 2010


 
Dear friends and colleagues,
 
I regret to have to update my earlier posting of October 14, 
with the dismaying news that yesterday South Korea's 
Constitutional Court upheld the military's right to ban  books.
See the article below, from today's JoongAmg  Ilbo.
 
So unless the Ministry of National Defence comes to its  senses,
one of Korea's best-known economists will remain  blacklisted.
 
This is both ludicrous and disgraceful. It is also bad  publicity, 
with Seoul about to host the G20 Summit on November  11-12.
 
What can one do?
 
 
 
Aidan  Foster-Carter 
Honorary Senior Research  Fellow in Sociology & Modern Korea, Leeds 
University, UK 
E: _afostercarter at aol.com_ (mailto:afostercarter at aol.com)      
_afostercarter at yahoo.com_ (mailto:afostercarter at yahoo.com)    W: _www.aidanfc.net_ 
(http://www.aidanfc.net/)      
Flat 1,  40 Magdalen Road,  Exeter,  Devon,  EX2 4TE,  England,  UK 
T: (+44, no 0)     07970 741307 (mobile);     01392 257753 (home)    
Skype:  Aidan.Foster.Carter   Twitter:  fcaidan   
Recent  articles, broadcasts and activities on Korea: 
Oct  28   North  Korea: Embracing the dragon.   NK links with China  deepen 
by the day   
Asia Times  Online    _http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/LJ28Dg01.html_ 
(http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/LJ28Dg01.html)  
Oct  22    The  Sociology of Kim Jong-eun. Published as “For the Kims, the 
weakest link is family”  Asia Times Online    
_http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/LJ22Dg01.html_ (http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/LJ22Dg01.html) 
 
 
_http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2927688_ 
(http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2927688) 
 
     
     
Military book banning  upheld

Court says public benefit as important as private in  national security
October 29, 2010
The Constitutional Court yesterday dismissed a  2008 appeal against the 
Ministry of National Defense for its rule labeling  some books as ideologically 
impermissible and banning soldiers from  keeping them in military barracks. 

Among the books is an  economics publication by a well-known mainstream 
Korean professor who is  at the University of Cambridge. 

The ruling may reignite  an old controversy in South Korea over how much 
the public should tolerate  criticism of the government - while holding in 
check the communist North -  when it comes to freedom of thought. 

The court said that the  public benefit from national security is no less 
important than the  private benefit, which is the right to know for 
individuals. 

Seven law officers in the  military filed a petition with the 
Constitutional Court in October 2008  against a clause of the military rule, saying the 
rule infringes on the  basic right to know. 

The 2nd Article of the  16th Clause of the military discipline rule 
stipulates that soldiers may  not produce, copy, keep, transport or acquire 
subversive documents, books  or any other means of expression, and to report 
immediately to the  military authority when they acquire them. 

Three months earlier, the  ministry classified 23 books, including a book 
written by Chang Ha-joon,  as “subversive books” and prevented soldiers from 
bringing the books into  military bases. 

Chang’s book “Bad  Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret 
History of Capitalism,”  published in 2008, warns against unregulated 
international trade, but  according to some scholars, not in a way that denies the 
principle of free  market economy itself. 

North Korea, which is the  South’s “main enemy,” promotes itself as a 
communist country.

The  ministry defended itself, saying the designation of “subversive books”
 is  in accordance with a customary interpretation of the military law  
considering the uniqueness of the military and does not constitute an  
infringement on basic rights. 

The ministry discharged  two of its seven law officers in March of last 
year for not resorting to a  proposal through the command line in the military 
to solve the problem  before the petition. The other military lawyers lost 
one month’s salary,  were suspended for five days and were reprimanded or 
given a warning. 

By Moon Gwang-lip  [joe at joongang.co.kr]
_________________
 
In a message dated 10/14/2010 17:45:16 GMT Daylight Time,  
Afostercarter at aol.com writes:

Dear friends and colleagues, 
 
I think and hope the name and work of Ha-Joon  Chang
will be known to many on these lists.
 
Currently teaching in Cambridge (the original one),  he
is one of the most interesting economists alive  today.
At a time when capitalism manifestly isn't working  well,
his heterodox views are all the more important to  hear.
 
He has a new website: _www.hajoonchang.net_ (http://www.hajoonchang.net/) 
which is an good place to get to know his work.
 
Don't miss his vivid account of growing up in a poorer  Korea:
_http://www.hajoonchang.net/downloads/Bad%20Samaritans%20Prologue.pdf_ 
(http://www.hajoonchang.net/downloads/Bad%20Samaritans%20Prologue.pdf) 
This would be an excellent text to give to students also.
 
Unbelievably, in 2008 some of his books were blacklisted by  the
ROK military from conscripts' reading, as supposedly seditious!
_http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/301730.html_ 
(http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/301730.html) 
 
I don't know whether this idiotic and shameful ban is still in  place,
or if MND has now seen sense. (Of course, it only boosted sales.)
 
Best wishes
Aidan FC
 
 
 
Aidan  Foster-Carter 
Honorary Senior Research  Fellow in Sociology & Modern Korea, Leeds 
University, UK 
E: _afostercarter at aol.com_ (mailto:afostercarter at aol.com)      
_afostercarter at yahoo.com_ (mailto:afostercarter at yahoo.com)    W: _www.aidanfc.net_ 
(http://www.aidanfc.net/)      
Flat 1,  40 Magdalen Road,  Exeter,  Devon,  EX2 4TE,  England,  UK 
T: (+44, no 0)     07970 741307 (mobile);     01392 257753 (home)    
Skype:  Aidan.Foster.Carter    Twitter:  fcaidan   






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