Twitter Controversy in South Korea About Posts from North Korea

From the New York Times: “Park Jung-geun, 23, a photographer who specialized in taking pictures of babies, was detained last month on charges of violating South Korea’s controversial National Security Law, which bans ‘acts that benefit the enemy’ —North Korea — but does not clearly define what constitutes such acts. The Twitter account Mr. Park was accused of reposting is run by the North Korean government Web site, Uriminzokkiri.com, which South Korean news media regularly cite for their stories. Mr. Park was indicted on Tuesday.” Obviously the South Koreans don’t have the same kind of freedom of speech we have here in the US, but it’s still unfortunate that this was mistaken for propaganda rather than artistic irony or humor. For as far as this country has come in the last couple of decades, clinging to the National Security Law makes it seem like the government is not as progressive as it would have us think of it.