South Korean Man Given Suspended Sentence For Retweeting NK Propaganda 90
tukang writes "Park Jung-geun, 24, of South Korea has been given a 10 month suspended prison sentence for violating the country's National Security Law, which prohibits 'praising, encouraging or propagandizing' North Korea, by retweeting over 100 North Korean propaganda posts."
Thank goodness... (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Thank goodness... (Score:4, Interesting)
From the articles:
Mr. Park, who is 24 years old, had told the court he spread the messages as a way of lampooning North Korea. ...
“There is something left to be desired in the court ruling that (my act was) intended to benefit the enemy though,” he added. “The National Security Law should be revised as quickly as possible.
In a North Korean post that he tweaked and sent out on Twitter, he replaced a swarthy North Korean soldier’s face with a downcast version of his own and the soldier’s rifle with a bottle of whiskey.
In his ruling, the presiding judge, Shin Jin-woo, acknowledged that some of Mr. Park’s posts were parody. But he said Mr. Park’s overall acts were tantamount to “supporting and joining forces with an antistate entity.” The justice said his court suspended the prison term, however, because Mr. Park promised not to repeat his act.
Prosecutors argued that Mr. Park’s Twitter posts served as a dangerous tool for spreading North Korean propaganda.
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Superstition (Score:2)
No, it's not.
There may be some people in the country who believe in it, just like there are people in N. America that believe equally wacky stuff.
In Canada, there were warnings of people using the superstitions of Chinese immigrants to scam them for money (insisting they were followed by a bad spirit, charging them to "cleanse" personal items, and stealing said items).
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To be fair fan death IS real. It just takes about 70-80 years to take effect. ;)
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Hopefully you are not from a country with adults who still believe in imaginary friends [wikipedia.org].
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Hopefully you are not from a country with adults who still believe in imaginary friends [wikipedia.org].
Imaginary friends aren't the problem, it's the people that listen to them you need to worry about.
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Check if his avatar is a Pabst Blue Ribbon can.
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Re:Thank goodness... (Score:4, Insightful)
They are still at war with NK, you know. It's been 60 years, but they are still at war. And not always cold, as the bombing of civilians last year recall, or the sinking of navy units 2 years ago by a submarine. Praising a country you are actively at war with is often seen as treason, even in free countries. You may or may not agree, but it is not unusual.
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North Korea tweets?
better a suspended SENTENCE than a suspended GUY (Score:3)
i would bet if you flipped this backwards the guy himself would have been hung
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Hanging is so 1800's. The preferred method of execution in North Korea is live mortar shell these days:
http://www.bignewsnetwork.com/index.php/sid/210323137/scat/b8de8e630faf3631/ht/North-Korean-minister-killed-by-mortar-shell-for-drinking-in-mourning-period [bignewsnetwork.com]
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This makes it perfectly ok, then!
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i would bet if you flipped this backwards the guy himself would have been hung
That's true. It is also irrelevant. The measure of a free society is not in the policies of possibly the worst society in the world. It is measured in how well it lives up to the ideals of freedom.
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Yet PSY gets nothing for unleashing Gangam Style.
Worst Korea is seriously fucked up.
Different Counties Have Different Laws. (Score:2)
Man breaks local law and gets punished for it, film at 11. Why is this an issue? In Thailand you get thrown in jail for simply disrespecting the king, in Singapore you'll get hung (or at least caned) for carrying the smallest amount of illegal drugs. the world is not completely homogenous (at least not yet).
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Canada also has laws against disrespecting the queen (more specifically, alarming her in any way). There's also a law that says you may not be in a residential area at night (prowling), amongst other silly laws that rarely get enforced. Let's not forget the hate speech laws...
This doesn't mean these countries (including mine) aren't absolutely idiotic for having them.
Re:Different Counties Have Different Laws. (Score:4, Informative)
Canada also has laws against disrespecting the queen (more specifically, alarming her in any way). There's also a law that says you may not be in a residential area at night (prowling), amongst other silly laws that rarely get enforced. Let's not forget the hate speech laws...
This doesn't mean these countries (including mine) aren't absolutely idiotic for having them.
There are a lot of crazy people who, for some reason, like discharging unloaded firearms at or in the presence of royalty. I think it has happened to Queen Elizabeth at least once and it happened to Queen Victoria a few times, and neither perpetrator was doing it for any other reason than being crazy. Basically, since the firearm was unloaded, it was was not an attack, but discharging firearms or making loud noises like that around the head of state is usually not a good thing for anyone. That is why countries associated with the UK may have laws about "alarming" the monarch, because the usual cause of the alarm involves explosions, firearms, or situations that are particular to being a head of state.
I agree, though, there are a lot of silly laws out there, but something like lese majeste, used to be a very serious crime when monarchies were not as constitutional as they are now, and even most common people might call for it to be enforced. In Thailand, they still make great use of that law, but ironically, it is actually used more by the elected government against people criticizing the country than by the King himself. The King frequently pardons people accused of that crime. Of course, with everything having to do with Thailand, it is not entirely certain how much the King is involved in the actual governance. Some people think he's purely a figurehead, except his great popularity, and some think that he's quietly running the whole thing himself.
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Basically, since the firearm was unloaded, it was was not an attack, but discharging firearms or making loud noises like that around the head of state is usually not a good thing for anyone.
How does one discharge an unloaded firearm?`
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Basically, since the firearm was unloaded, it was was not an attack, but discharging firearms or making loud noises like that around the head of state is usually not a good thing for anyone.
How does one discharge an unloaded firearm?`
Hold the firearm away from the body.
Pull the trigger.
Shout loudly "Bang, I say Bang old bean"
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That's probably a precursor to the anti-hoax laws, so if you fire blanks at the you don;t just get let off with a breach of the peace charge (and so you can't complain when some policeman mistakes it for live firing and shoots back).
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Because we're all human beings, and therefore equally qualified to criticize any culture or government that would take away someone's rights.
"Freedom is the right of all sentient beings." - Optimus Prime
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Man breaks local law and gets punished for it, film at 11. Why is this an issue? In Thailand you get thrown in jail for simply disrespecting the king, in Singapore you'll get hung (or at least caned) for carrying the smallest amount of illegal drugs. the world is not completely homogenous (at least not yet).
This is nothing but modern-day McCarthyism. Freedom of speech is a human rights issue, and we have to stop supporting governments who do this, even our own.
I'm curious... (Score:5, Interesting)
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you would get more than a suspended sentence.
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Twitter would probably lock your account. Someone might get assigned to watch your behavior, but since you're a non-trivial donator to Democrat causes, it would quickly get dismissed as anti-Bush behavior and perfectly acceptable. Within three months, your Twitter account will be mentioned in a presidential speach explaining the abundance of freedoms in this country.
retweet! (Score:5, Funny)
You would need to pack your belongings and immediately retweet to a safer location like Iwan.
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If you simply retweeted them, and only let's say, typed an IRONY tag around them, you might have to deal with the government saying you were giving material aid.
If you made it pretty darn clear that you were lampooning them, particularly by adjusting the text to something ridiculous, you'd probably get away with parody.
You need to be careful with verbatim copies of that information, because often the messages themselves are crafted to have a psychological effect, and so one way that a real sympathizer could
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What the fuck are you talking about? These tweets aren't promoting terrorism, it's promoting nationalism and communism.
I don't think you know the first thing about the DPRK and why it's such a paranoid and authoritative government.
What South Korea did was just as bad as they are. The difference is the latter isn't isolated from the rest of the world.
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You'd be called an asshole. You'd probably get a lot of threats. The Police might even come question you. But when they discover you're just a harmless jerk, they'd leave, and they'd even go investigate the people who made threats against you to see which of them might actually be dangerous. If you actually provided material aid to them in some way, we might have a different story.
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Well, I think if you could show you were doing parody you would be fine but...
If you translated the tweet and re-tweeted you would potentially be guilty of giving "assistance" or a terrorist organization for your actions as a translations service.
There is a case where an NGO went to meet with people affiliated groups our country considers terrorist to teach them peaceful means of conflict resolution and tactics. Basically they wanted to show them that there were peaceful ways to get what they wanted. Our
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I'm quite certain there are people advocating Sharia and other such craziness in the USA, and nothing happens to them. The problems would come if you actually started organizing. Also, you and your followers would be subject to intense scrutiny. IMHO, If you had a Twitter account that followed Al Qaeda, Hamas, etc. it would be fully Constitutional to do more intense surveillance on the person behind that. It could be warranted in every sense of the word.
I don't think it would be too hard to find such ac
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I'm genuinely curious. What would happen in the US if I tweet messages praising Al-Qaeda and retweeted their propaganda and warnings about terrorism?
Nothing. You just go right ahead.
Signed, your local Secret Service Operative.
sheesh (Score:1)
Has anyone taken a look at some of the retweets this guy is responsible for?
'Best Korea: who has more Seoul? We do!'
'Don't shoot! Don't shoot, I'm typing as fast'
'KJU: Highest score Galaga'
'and Asteroids'
'KJU: The REAL King of Kong'
'Kim Jung-un 12"'
'Kim Jung-un retains championship belt for Real Korea Ultimate Fighting'
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War time (Score:1)
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I'd agree with you if you argued that they are not at war in any practical sense, but they are indeed "technically" still at war. The Armistice Agreement was signed, but by its terms it's a ceasefire that is ongoing until "a final peaceful settlement is achieved."
Regardless, if you think I'm being pedantic, as someone who lived 30 minutes from the border for many years and participated in invasion drills every few months, I can tell you that reality is far more complex than technical definitions.
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I'd agree with you if you argued that they are not at war in any practical sense, but they are indeed "technically" still at war. The Armistice Agreement was signed, but by its terms it's a ceasefire that is ongoing until "a final peaceful settlement is achieved."
Regardless, if you think I'm being pedantic, as someone who lived 30 minutes from the border for many years and participated in invasion drills every few months, I can tell you that reality is far more complex than technical definitions.
I wonder if you wouldn't mind expanding on this reality. Most Western nations (Israel excluded) do not face looming existential threats. Even though North Korea has in some ways regressed to the Middle Ages, it seems to me that the fact it has nuclear weapons only minutes from a major population centre must be viewed with alarm by at least some people. Or, are Koreans more or less fatalistic about it all?
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I think the best way I could describe it is: most people, but specifically those under 30-35, consider DPRK as some kind of media fantasy. It exists to them, but they've never been touched by it. Seoul is a huge, rich, confident city and it seems almost (tragically?) comical how close it is to the northern border. But I think that the vast majority of people go about their lives with barely a second thought to what's up there, except when something big happens.
Then the deep seated nationalism of South Korea
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Makes one wonder who would be out of their mind enough to spy for north korea? Though I suppose there's good odds that anyone they let loose out of their borders has their entire family at gunpoint if they decide to run.
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Makes one wonder who would be out of their mind enough to spy for north korea? Though I suppose there's good odds that anyone they let loose out of their borders has their entire family at gunpoint if they decide to run.
I think the point is rather more that if you were a spy for North Korea in South Korea you wouldn't blow your cover by posting pro-NK shit on the internet.
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Yeah, it's a little silly, but it is important to remember that the people who are making and enforcing these laws are probably living and working in Seoul, which is in firing range of literally thousands of NK artillery pieces. They may be a little more unforgiving of anyone who repeats NK propaganda, even ironically.
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My perception was always that SK was some sort of bastion of freedom and laissez-faire. Boy was that an uninformed understanding of things. Best of luck to that man and his family.
Compared to NK, they're a paradise of freedom. Compared to everyone else, not so much. They tend to have a much more controlling government and they definitely have some serious government-corporation cooperation going on there, in the mold of Japan. It's not as draconian a place as Singapore or anything, but it is not one of those countries that you assume you have the right to say whatever you want about anyone.
Re:actions reveal reality (Score:5, Interesting)
You ain't kidding about the overreach of corporations in SK. It's as close to a real-life Omni Consumer Products as it's going to get.
In Korea, it's possible to leave from your Samsung-constructed apartment complex using the Samsung-constructed elevator, and get into your Samsung-built car to drive to a Samsung-owned eatery before going to work in a Samsung subsidiary.
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Compared to NK, even 1970s China was a paradise of freedom. That's not a joke but something I've heard from some Koreans that live in China that stare across the border in horror. When asked what should be done to NK one, who may or may not have living relatives over there (impossible to get a message to them if they are alive) said "wait until the wind is blowing the right way then nuke".
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Compared to NK, even 1970s China was a paradise of freedom. That's not a joke but something I've heard from some Koreans that live in China that stare across the border in horror. When asked what should be done to NK one, who may or may not have living relatives over there (impossible to get a message to them if they are alive) said "wait until the wind is blowing the right way then nuke".
In cold, economic terms, nuking may be the cheapest solution, if you remove the human element. As I understand it, when East Germany rejoined West Germany, getting the former Soviet client state up to modern standards was a massive drain on the economy. What's more, East Germany was a relatively bright economic light in the soviet sphere. In order to integrate North Korea with the south, not only would pretty much everything need to be replaced, but almost everyone would need retraining and updated educatio
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Compared to NK, they're a paradise of freedom.
Talk about setting the bar low.
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How to treat social media (Score:1)
If you can be punished for saying the wrong thing on social media, then we should consider social media as a liability. Only post things that the court of law would deem appropriate.
It's like big brother gave you a terminal to type into. Whatever you say can and will be used against you.
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Anything you say always could and would be used against you. The only difference here is how many people hear you. But as a test of this, try standing in your living room and saying, "everybody down, I have a bomb, give me all your money". They go to something where more people can hear you like a bank and do the same.
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Yes, I understand the "yelling fire in a crowded theater" concept. It just seems foolish to put on the record, all of your social speech.
Everything you say to your friends on facebook, for example, can easily be used against you. Or Google Chat, or any service like Twitter. You may not be required to use your real name, but they have your IP, and all of your "friends", so we have taken what we typically said in private at parties, and put it out in the open, so that at anytime in your life, it can be use
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Ah.. I see. I thought you were complaining that someone hearing your speech could get you in trouble when in reality, you are saying be careful where you make your speech because it can/will be used against you at some time.
Good thinking. (Score:2)
If you like primary sources... (Score:2)
Give the stupid back their voice SK! (Score:2)
Emigration, not punishment (Score:3)
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Nice way to miss the point. Please look up "parody" and then try again.
anonymity is the only defense (Score:2, Insightful)
the only defense the powerless have against the powerful is anonymity
that is why the powerful want to destroy the anonymous internet
if the guy had hadn't associated his real name with his account then used twitter through tor or an out of country vpn he would still have his freedom
lesson learned, if you do anything that might possibly get the attention of those with the power to harm you don't let them know it was you who did it