North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (Korea Central News Agency via Yonhap) South Korea’s state-run media watchdog ordered action against over 10,000 pieces of content between 2020 and the first half of this year for inappropriately sympathizing with the communist North Korea’s system and ideas or praising its dictatorial leadership.
The Korea Communications Standards Commission ordered removal or other measures against 2,546 pieces of pro-Pyongyang content in 2024, which brought the total to 10,833 from 2020 to 2024, according to KCSC data revealed by Rep. Choi Soo-jin of the main opposition People Power Party on Tuesday.
But just 610 pieces were taken down in the first half of this year for violating the South Korean law that bans the promotion of pro-North Korean messages.
Rep. Choi claimed that the KCSC’s filtering of pro-North media content has practically stopped since former agency chief Ryu Hee-lim stepped down in April, with his successor yet to be named in light of the complex political situation in South Korea recently.
The KCSC reviews content deemed unlawful or harmful to the public and orders appropriate follow-up measures, but the process has been halted since June 2 due to a shortage of board members.
South Korea remains technically at war with North Korea, as the 1950-53 Korean War effectively ended in a ceasefire, not a treaty. The North and the Kim Jong-un regime is considered a hostile body to the country, meaning that praising them can be punished for violating the National Security Act.
Rep. Choi also said that data on illegal pro-North content collected by the KCSC may have been lost due to a recent fire at the National Information Resources Service, which crashed the country’s digital services and inflicted substantial damage on the government database.
minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com