Police issued a summons Tuesday to a cartoonist who put insulting phrases about President Lee Myung-bak in a cartoon printed in a gazette. Wonju Police Station in Gangwon Province said it asked the cartoonist, identified as Choi, to turn himself in to the station.
The 44-year-old cartoonist drew a cartoon where members of a family pay respect to a monument of a soldier who died defending the country in the city's promotional paper.
Police have launched an investigation of the cartoonist since last Friday after city government officials filed a complaint against him for ``interference with business.''
On one side of the monument, there are two abusive sentences subtly hidden in the form of patterns. One says ``he should be killed.'' About 22,000 copies of the ``Happy Wonju'' gazette were printed and delivered to residents there and in nearby cities.
Here's the cartoon, via NoCutNews:
This Naver blog, among others, has a photo with the words on the monument enlarged:
"이명박 죽일놈" and "이명박 개새끼" it says, sounding more like my students than a newspaper cartoonist.
5 comments:
"....members of a family pay respect to a monument of a soldier who died defending the country in the city's promotional paper. "
I don't quite understand. Are there wars being fought in the paper?
In this case, the response by police isn't all that absurd (although I obviously agree with freedom of speech.) In the US (and most every other country) a threat or incitement to act against the president is nearly always investigated.
In the US, there is a law making it illegal to threaten the president. Of course there are also laws against threats in general (if there is an intent to harm.) Of course, there is a big different between a benign threat and a threat with intent. To play devil's advocate, one could argue that a death threat (more like a death wish) published in a newspaper is more "harmful" because of the potential for a reader to act on the sentiment. I guess it could be the journalistic equivalent of yelling "fire" in a theater.
Of course, there will be those on the Korean Left who will turn this into an issue of the "evil" LMB and his fascist ways. I wonder what Hankyoreh has to say about it. If someone did the same thing under Neville Chamberlain-Roh, the police response would likely have been the same.
Yeah what Brian Dear said. I clicked this thinking "oh boy!" But suggesting the president should be killed might be crossing a line, inciting violence. Imagine if Fox News said Obama should be killed. I don't think anyone would be arrested in the USA but maybe even at Fox a head would roll. I'd hope.
I do remember when Roh came into office he had to give comedians permission to make fun of him. Although he withdrew the permission not long after.
The completely stupid thing is that Roh would have to have given permission in the first place. Korea will not advance beyond its current level until the press (and comedians, private citizens, bloggers, etc) are able to speak without fear of criminal action. Korea needs a truth defense in its libel and slander laws. Reporting lies as fact or distorting truth is never ok (see recent English teacher journalism controversy,) but reporting facts should never have to be done from a position of fear. The problem is that the climate of corruption is such that those in power fear the truth, hence their desire to suppress it.
Roh gave permission to comedians, but he also aspired to not becoming corrupt -- both situations ended badly.
I've whined about it many times on Seoul Survivors but it seems Koreans largely don't get satire and sarcasm. You don't make fun of your culture, your institutions, your leaders, etc. Which is odd given their traditional lack of respect for their political leaders, cops, and firemen. Korean comedy is about the outsider, the idiot who doesn't quite get it, a man wearing a dress, soldiers wearing dresses, people have smelly bums, etc. And the punch line is always a bitch slapping.
Also, Koreans are going to need to not only learn to laugh at themselves but learn to laugh when others laugh at them. Canada, for example, is frequently made fun of by some of the hipper american tv shows (south park, simpsons, daily show, etc.). Canadians laugh their asses off when these shows poke fun at us.
If you remember the Busan 8 (5? 9?) who were basically pilloried for staging a show that poked fun at Koreans. They paid the price for mocking Korea by having their visas renewals refused.
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