[The Hankyoreh, July 4 2008] Law experts say newspaper boycott ‘not illegal’

KOCSC bypassed legal procedure to make its ruling

Legal experts who were asked for their advice by the Korea Communications Standards Commission were found to have said that a consumer boycott “cannot be viewed as illegal,” before the ruling was made. However, in spite of their advice, the KOCSC ruled, on July 1, that the campaign, launched by users of Daum Communications’ Internet debate forum Agora, was illegal. The campaign encourages people to boycott companies that advertise in the country’s three main conservative newspapers, the Chosun Ilbo, the JoongAng Ilbo and the DongA Ilbo.

In addition, some experts pointed out that an order from the KOCSC to delete information related to the boycott campaign failed to comply with the procedures as stipulated in a law governing information networks and protection of information.