A Foreigner's Take On The Freedom Of Speech

Published on October 25, 2004 By chiprj In Current Events

I get news alerts everyday from Yahoo for anything that has the key word Korea in it. Being a Korean linguist, I like to stay on top of the news and this is one good way to see what's going on there. Well, I got this news article recently and I thought I'd share it here. You can get the entire article here - [Opinion] Speech Law of Korea and the U.S. . It's a pretty good article about how the laws covering the freedom of speech in Korea have been changed, modified, restricted and opened over the years. They have to think of everything when they formulate these laws, which just causes more laws to be written. The last paragraph, and the only one that I'll cut and paste here, was the one that drove home the important difference between the freedom of speech in the USA and elsewhere.

"I was surprised to know that the first amendment of the U.S. Constitution consists of only 45 words. But what amazed me more is the fact that the U.S.'s first amendment requires Congress not to make laws abridging the freedom of speech. While the nation's presidents have been replaced about fifty times, the first amendment, the only free speech law in the U.S. has not been touched once. But still, the freedom of speech in the U.S. is most respected in the world." - Lee Jae-kyoung, guest editorial writer, Professor of Speech Studies at Ewha Woman's University, jklee@ewha.ac.kr

Comments

SSG Geezer

on Oct 25, 2004

SO, at least someone out there is paying attention.

chiprj

on Oct 25, 2004

SO, at least someone out there is paying attention.

I know! Nice, huh?

GreenReaper

on Oct 26, 2004

I think the comparison is between two different things. Now I don't know this for sure, but I suspect there is quite a lot of law on the books regarding free speech, as well as a bundle of cases used as law on the subject. The constitution is a guideline, but it's not everything.

RegularGuy

on Oct 26, 2004

Chip, been awhile since I've been here. Just read the Regular Guy story....funny...thanks. Still waiting for a story about Black Bart. I know you have a good one or two. Good to see you back on broadband. Don't forget about ye olde Christmas Party in Dec. I'll call ya when I can.

Shannon Barber

on Oct 26, 2004

All this really means is that case-law determines what is protected and what is not; e.g. People vs. Larry Flynt.
Our laws are not really any simpler, they just are not written in the federal constitution which allows them to be malleable.

chiprj

on Oct 26, 2004

Well, I'm no lawyer (thank God), but the point of the original article is this - South Korea has a number of laws regarding what's allowed for free speech. The US has the 1st Ammendment that says there shall be no laws abridging free speech. That is the key difference. They have no such article in their constitution. For example, there are still a large number of things that they can't do (freedom of expression/speech-wise) in South Korea regarding North Korea legally. Some things have been legalized recently, but things like hanging a NK flag was a crime for years. This is all taken from a foreigner's perspective and the research they did.

The difference comes down to this - one country is looking for ways to regulate and let people have the freedom and the fact that it becomes one law after another to grant permission. The other has given the right to the people outright. In their country, you have to get permission, in ours you already have it. Now that doesn't mean we don't have laws here that cover expression - One person's free speech can be another person's sexual harassment. In those cases (and similar ones) actions taken by the law were not seen as abridgements of freedom of speech, and so the laws were maintained.

I googled up free speech US laws and came up with a list of cases that have been seen before the US Supreme Court that have to do with free speech and the 1st Ammendment. We do have a number of laws that have been upheld or knocked down by various courts. For example - The Sedition Act of 1918 (did not allow people to speak out against the federal government) was upheld for many years until it was finally struck down by the US Supreme Court during the Vietnam War.

Here's a link I found dealing with a number of cases dealing with laws regarding speech and how the courts have dealt with them. Category:U.S. free speech case law

chiprj

on Oct 26, 2004

All this really means is that case-law determines what is protected and what is not; e.g. People vs. Larry Flynt.Our laws are not really any simpler, they just are not written in the federal constitution which allows them to be malleable.

That's a good assessment. To me, I guess I see the difference as this - our country's approach is that we have the right. Plain and simple. We'll use the courts to adjudicate, as necessary, what is and isn't free speech, but the basic right is ours to use. In other countries, the government witholds the right and doles out 'helpings' in it's legislation as it sees fit. The basic approach is different. That's why other countries have to change laws. Ours doesn't. We just decide if something protected or not. Thanks!

chiprj

on Oct 26, 2004

I see you there, Regular Guy. We are still on for December. I'll see what I can do about a Black Bart story... Have to pull something out of my tequila soaked memory... There is a new Carl, the One-Eyed Nord story, though, available here - A tale of the One-Eyed Nord. Talk to you later!

chiprj

on Oct 27, 2004

Found this article while doing some surfing today. It's kind of old but gives an example of how free speech works in South Korea. Could you imagine something like this in the USA?
Student Fined for Spreading Parody Images

Spc Nobody Special

on Oct 27, 2004

Chosun Mansei!!!!

Different Hanja

on Oct 28, 2004

Chip,
I can see your point! I think that is a fundamental difference that defines the American mind. Start broad, then narrow where necessary; completely opposite from what I've experienced here in Korea. Even in networking... they will lock everything down, then try to find the exceptions to allow. Makes if frustrating for our users, I assure you!

chiprj

on Oct 28, 2004

Chip, I can see your point! I think that is a fundamental difference that defines the American mind. Start broad, then narrow where necessary; completely opposite from what I've experienced here in Korea. Even in networking... they will lock everything down, then try to find the exceptions to allow. Makes if frustrating for our users, I assure you!

That's it. A couple months back, I wrote a post that mostly parrotted what other bloggers were saying in Korea about the lockdown of the internet in SK caused by the beheading of the SK worker in Iraq. They shut down access to every site that had even a mention of the beheading. Bloggers all across Korea were unable to post to their blogs. The country just decided that noone would be allowed to see the video. While I didn't watch it and had no plans to, I would be pissed if I had to deal with such governmental restrictions.

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