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My (edited) Journal

Observations, events, comparisons, thoughts, rants, linguistics, politics, my students, and anything else I care to write about.

Wednesday, June 30, 2004

The Communist Interpretation of Article 21

Article 21 as written in the Korean Constitution:

[Speech, Press, Assembly, Association, Honor, Public Morals]

(1) All citizens enjoy the freedom of speech and the press, and of assembly and association.
(2) Licensing or censorship of speech and the press, and licensing of assembly and association may not be recognized.
(3) The standard of news service and broadcast facilities and matters necessary to ensure the functions of newspapers is determined by law.
(4) Neither speech nor the press may violate the honor or rights of other persons nor undermine public morals or social ethics. Should speech or the press violate the honor or rights of other persons, claims may be made for the damage resulting therefrom.

Article 21 (as interpreted by those MIC and ICEC Communists):
[Speech--no, you can't do that; Press--nope, that's ours; Assembly--that might cause problems, so no to that, too; Association--you can associate with who we say you can associate with; Honor--yes, you must honor us; Public Morals--at least put on a good show in public, then do whatever perverse things you want to where we can't see them]

(1) All citizens enjoy the freedom of speech. Those bloggers making all the fuss aren't citizens, so we won't let them enjoy that freedom.
(2) Censorship may not be recognized, but it can be done.
(3) Newspapers must print what we tell them to print to ensure their continued functioning (because otherwise we would shut them down).
(4) Criticizing Korea violates the honor of all Koreans and undermines public morals in some way or other, we just haven't figured out how yet. We're the best country in the world, and those foreigners should know that by now! Should their speech violate the honor of Koreans (especially Communists) we may make a claim therefrom. (We don't really know what that last part means, but it sounds impressive.)

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