This briefing comes from Korea View, a weekly newsletter published by the Korea Economic Institute. Korea View aims to cover developments that reveal trends on the Korean Peninsula but receive little attention in the United States. If you would like to sign up, please find the online form here.

What Happened

• In response to high-profile sex criminals receiving sentences that are deemed too lenient, online activists built the website “Digital Prison” to publicly expose charged individuals.
• The suspected operator of Digital Prison was arrested for violating privacy laws and the Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC) banned access to Digital Prison.
• A second Digital Prison website was established following KCSC’s shuttering of the original.

Implications: The government and the public are competing to advance their respective vision for justice in cyberspace. Digital Prison is one of these efforts, which many supporters see as rectifying perceived failures of the legal system to sufficiently punish sex abuse cases. In this environment, the many members of the public expressed anger that the government shuttered the website without changes to the court’s approach to sex offenders. The creation of the second Digital Prison website demonstrates that members of the public will continue to use digital platforms to highlight what they see as a miscarriage of justice.

Context: The general sense that the government is not sufficiently protecting people also threatens to escalate into real-world violence. With the imminent release of an infamous rapist, some citizens have discussed plans to mete out collective punishment. These discussions occurred despite police announcing several plans to ensure women’s safety in the area where the ex-felon would be released. In response, the National Assembly is proposing new legislation that would impose harsher punishments on sex criminals as a means to forestall vigilantism.

Korea View was edited by Yong Kwon with the help of Sophie Joo, Sonia Kim, and Chris Lee.

Picture from flickr user Takashi Nakajima

This briefing comes from Korea View, a weekly newsletter published by the Korea Economic Institute. Korea View aims to cover developments that reveal trends on the Korean Peninsula but receive little attention in the United States. If you would like to sign up, please find the online form here.

What Happened

• On June 6, a South Korean court denied a U.S. request for the extradition of Son Jong-woo, 24, who ran one of the world’s largest child porn sites. Son already served his 18-month sentence issued by a local court.
• Son was first arrested in March 2018 after a U.S. Justice Department investigation tracked bitcoin transactions back to him.
• In response to public outcry over the court decision, National Assembly Delegate Song Young-gil introduced a bill to the legislature that would revise the extradition law to allow appeals of court rulings on extraditions.

Implications: Despite the increasingly borderless nature of crimes perpetrated online, South Korea is struggling to approach this challenge with an international outlook. The courts argued that keeping Son in South Korea would help local authorities find domestic consumers of child pornography, demonstrating the priority placed on prosecuting South Korean offenders. This is despite the U.S. Justice Department’s finding that users of the site come from countries including the United States, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

Context: The decision comes just a few months after South Korea was rocked by the massive Nth Room online sex trafficking scandal, which also led to harsh criticism of the sentencing of sex offenders. In April, the National Assembly made viewing illegally filmed sexual content punishable by up to three years in prison. Previously, this had not been a crime. Users of Son Jong-woo’s now-defunct site who were convicted in the United States received sentences of five to fifteen years in prison.

Korea View was edited by Yong Kwon with the help of James Constant and Sonia Kim.

Image from Markus Spiske’s photostream on flickr Creative Commons.

This briefing comes from Korea View, a weekly newsletter published by the Korea Economic Institute. Korea View aims to cover developments that reveal trends on the Korean Peninsula but receive little attention in the United States. If you would like to sign up, please find the online form here.

What Happened

• An investigation into a recent cybersex crime case revealed that social service agents had unsanctioned access to personal information through other public officials’ IDs.
• There were also several cases of public officials leaking COVID-19 patients’ personal information without their permission.
• On March 11, National Assembly Research Service reported that Korea ranked among the top 10 countries in the “E-Government Development Index” and “E-participation Index,” while its ranking in the “Cybersecurity Index” did not reach the same heights.
• The government plans to enhance its digital infrastructure, adopting cloud storage, and promoting greater data integration.

Implications: While South Korea is a leader in e-governance, its cybersecurity infrastructure appears less prepared to protect citizens’ personal data. This has elicited worries because the government plans to pursue more expansive data integration in preparation for future national crises. The problem stems from the lack of protocol and careless practices of public officials. An investigation into the handling of a recent high-profile criminal case revealed that public officials had often delegated their authority illegally. Agencies that were implicated in this investigation announced that they will strengthen oversight and disciplinary measures, but more comprehensive reforms are also needed to better protect personal data.

Context: Concerns around data privacy are not new in South Korea. An investigation in 2018 found that the number of cases involving the misuse of personal information by public officials had increased over the previous 5 years. The government had pushed for data integration to improve administrative efficiency, but had provided government officials with too much access to personal information. Moreover, weak and rare disciplinary actions against public officials exacerbated these lapses in data protection.

Korea View was edited by Yong Kwon with the help of Gordon Henning, Soojin Hwang, Hyungim Jang, and Ingyeong Park.

From user Andrew on Flickr

This briefing comes from Korea View, a weekly newsletter published by the Korea Economic Institute. Korea View aims to cover developments that reveal trends on the Korean Peninsula but receive little attention in the United States. If you would like to sign up, please find the online form here.

What Happened

• Advanced DNA analysis technology helped identify a suspect in a three-decade-old serial murder case.
• Since the introduction of Act on Use and Protection of DNA Identification Information and the establishment of a national DNA identification information database in 2010, more than 5,000 cases of unsolved crimes were re-opened.
• Constitutional Court ruled that an individual has the right to reject DNA collection and gave the National Assembly until December 31, 2019 to revise the Act on Use and Protection of DNA Identification Information.

Implications: Despite growing recognition that DNA analysis is effective in criminal investigations, the Constitutional Court’s decision reflected a growing awareness of individual rights and privacy in South Korea. The Court’s ruling reflected the view that existing laws provide insufficient protections, including against forced collection of DNA samples from suspects. Detractors of the current law have also pointed out that law enforcement agents currently have the power to collect DNA samples from protesters, which could have an adverse impact on the freedom of speech.

As a result of the ruling, the National Assembly is required to revise the relevant law by the end of this year. If the legislature fails to accomplish this revision, the whole law will be nullified and prosecutors may not be able to use DNA evidence in court. While this could frustrate investigations into unsolved cases, the ruling affirms that South Korean society has become more aware of civil rights.

Context: The constitutionality of the Act on Use and Protection of DNA Identification Information was called into question as soon as the law was introduced in 2010. However, a series of appalling crimes garnered public attention and reduced support for legal action that would protect the rights of suspected criminals. In 2014, another constitutional petition regarding the DNA Act was unsuccessfully advanced to the Court. The successful ruling in favor of greater protection for individuals in 2018 is a testament to the tenacity of legal advocates and the robustness of civil society in South Korea.

Korea View was edited by Yong Kwon with the help of Soojin Hwang, Hyoshin Kim, and Rachel Kirsch.

Picture by d’n’c from Wikimedia Commons