Prime minister denies gov't cyber censorship

SEOUL, Oct. 31 (Yonhap) -- Prime Minister Chung Hong-won on Friday dismissed allegations that the prosecution is monitoring private messages on the dominant mobile messaging application KakaoTalk, an issue that has sparked concerns over a breach of free speech.

Last month, President Park Geun-hye ordered prosecutors to investigate the spread of malicious rumors about individuals on social media services, spawning worries that they may search through private chat records to sift out comments critical of Park and her administration.

It has also prompted users of KakaoTalk, a smartphone-based service used by 35 million of the country's 50 million people, to switch to a previously little-known Germany-based competitor, Telegram.

"Cyber censorship or surveillance is unimaginable under the current government," Chung told lawmakers during an interpellation session at the National Assembly. "The government can't carry out illegal probes since there's a penalty for doing that."

"Allegations of defamation don't warrant the government to eavesdrop on people," Chung said. "There seems to be a misunderstanding that the government is monitoring chat records on a real-time basis, but that's just technically impossible."

Justice Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn agreed that there was no censorship or monitoring at a government level.

"We do enforce the law (against defamation) but we don't censor or monitor (chat records)," he said. "Only in serious cases do we enforce the law, and only after the court issues a warrant to do so."

"Censorship or monitoring is illegal, so the government can't possibly be doing that," he reiterated.

sojungpark@yna.co.kr
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