Highly-cited political scientist Stephan Haggard of the University of California at San Diego and Jong-Sung You, soon to join the Australian National University, have completed a Commentary for JCA that assesses the evidence that freedom of expression in South Korea has lagged behind that of comparable Asian countries.
Usually considered a “consolidated democracy,” there has been a deterioration on freedom of expression since 2008.
The authors identify five problems that have contributed to this: abuse of criminal defamation, the rules governing election campaigns, national security limitations on free speech, restrictions related to the internet and partisan use of state power to control the media.