[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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