[Chosun Ilbo, October 9 2008] Double Standards by Democratic Party Regarding Cyber Violence

The Democratic Party, which is opposed to the government’s idea of requiring people to verify their identities when posting comments online, has reportedly been requiring visitors to its homepage to do exactly that for the past five years.

When accessing the free bulletin board of the Democratic Party’s homepage, visitors are shown a message saying those who fail to verify their identities cannot post comments. The main opposition party explains on its website that the measure is “unavoidable” and acts to strengthen a sense of responsibility among those posting messages.

Even a forum on the website for party members requires user verification in order to post messages. In the name of protecting freedom of expression, the Democratic Party has been calling on Koreans to allow cyber anonymity, while protecting itself against random online attacks by unnamed individuals on its own homepage.