Ban on websites deplored but protest by North called hypocrisy

Reporters Without Borders criticised South Korea today for blocking access to about 30 North Korean propaganda websites and appealed for the week-old ban to be lifted in the name of free expression. But it called strong North Korean protests against the move hypocritical because the Pyongyang regime forbids ordinary people to use the Internet at all. "The ban by the south is unacceptable but we call on the north to show the same tolerance it is demanding of the south and allow its citizens free access to the Internet." South Korean telecommunications minister Chung Dae-soon said the website blocking had been approved by an ethics committee as violating the national security law, which forbids putting out material supporting Pyongyang and has been used routinely to jail communist journalists since it was passed in 1948. Among the barred websites is that of the Kim Il-sung University (www.ournation-school.com). The minister's statement clashes with South Korean President Roh Moo-huyn's recent declared intention to repeal the law. The North Korean telecommunications ministry called the blocking "unprecedented fascist suppression" that was "quite contrary to the requirements of the IT age." Reporters Without Borders noted that such remarks were ironic coming from one of the world's harshest regimes where press freedom is concerned. North Korea does not permit any independent media and only a handful of privileged people there are allowed to use the Internet. Online freedom of expression in North Korea: Further information In South Korea: Further information