What is the Impact of Netizens on South Korean Democratization? Ronda Hauben,rh120@columbia.edu An Outline of Presentation April 2006 Preface: South Korea, along with Finland, has the largest proportion of its population with high speed Internet access in the world. South Korea is the only country where the head of state was elected by the efforts of the Netizens. I Some background 1. US Arpanet 1962-1989 Internet Research network 1973-1990 Internet (TCP/IP) 1983- present Korean networking pioneer Kilnam Chon in US 1970s 2. Internet development in Korea May 1982 - 2 computer network - snu and kiet January 1983 - 3 computer network (sdn) - snu, kiet, kaist August 1983 - connects to mcvax (Netherlands) October 1983 - connects to hplabs (US) December 1984 - network connects to csnet Joined Internet 1990 II Discovery of phenomena of netizen 1. Student Columbia University - Michael Hauben Posted questions on Usenet and Internet mailing lists - 1992 Over 60 responses from around the world 2. net.citizen or net + citizen = netizen non geographically based social membership 3. Responses: Internet important for them and should be spread to all. 1992-1993 "The Net and Netizens: The Effect the Net Has on Peoples Lives" posted online 4. Invited talk Nov. 1995 Oita, Japan 'Netizens and Community Networks' Netizens those who discuss and debate topics, send email answers to people's questions, helped to make the Net 'a regenerative and vibrant community resources.' 5. By 1995 two general uses of the term Netizen had developed a) broad use to refer to anyone who uses the Net, good, bad prefix b) people who care about the net and work towards building the cooperative social nature. No prefix need be used. III Early Korean computer networking use 1. After June 1987 democratic victory, online space emerged in Korea 2. Networks (not yet Internet) - Hitel, Chollian, Naunuri 3. Examples of Use in 1990s: voting results (1992) Society for Fair Communication-in 1991 Sampung collapse - bulletins online about tragedy. Campaign against arrests for online posts-National Security Law. Blue House interactive online forum opened in 1993. Only lasted few months. One scholar suggests "Because the BBS operator could not endure people's criticism of government policy." 4. Hitel, Chollian, Naunuri "They boomed in early 90s, withered as the Internet explosion occurred in mid and late 1990s. IV 1997 Financial Crisis as Catalyst 1. After financial crisis 1997, growing interest in Internet and potential Internet to bring South Korea out of financial crisis. Phrases common like: "We were late to industrialize, but lets lead in digitalization." "We shall lead Korea to become an information superpower." 2. Korean government-commitment build infrastructure for high speed Internet access. Government program instituted. "Invested more than 0.25% GDP to build high-speed backbone for the Internet and more than .2% GDP in soft loans to operators from 1999-2005." Financial and business investment, also training programs in computer literacy. "the Ten Million People Internet Education Project" - computer and Internet skills to 10 million people by 2002. South Korean housewives - 1 million, other segments population, in all 4.1 million participated in program. Primary and secondary schools - high speed Internet access. Internet cafes set up with high speed access - called PC Bangs First PC Bang opened Sept 15, 1995; 1999 - 150 PC Bangs VI Red Devils 1. Example of online activity - online fan club for South Korean National Soccer team. Began as online community in 1997. Also offline meetings. 2. Role in June 2002 Street Cheering and celebrating during World Cup games in South Korea. Millions of people took part in street cheering. Many felt significant event in Korean national pride. VII Political Power of Conservative Press 1. Criticism how conservative press had helped contribute to crisis. "We were guilty of printing government statements without checking the facts" Pressure from editors as part of problem. Scholars felt after victory of democratic movement in 1987, conservative media emerged as independent political institution wielding lot of power. "The need for reform of the conservative media is critical for a structural change of conservative and repressive institutions of South Korea." Chang Woo Young "Without the reform of the media, no democratic reform is possible" Cho Hee Yeon, People's Solidarity with Participatory Democracy "If anyone asks me who moves politics in Korea, I would say it is the press." Jang Jip Choi "Democracy after Democratization" Politicians "adjust their role according to what is reported that day in the press." VIII Online Journalism as Catalyst for Extending Democracy 1. Newspapers without offline editions as genuine examples of online journalism - Chang Woo Young. 2. Examples include OhmyNews and online interactive forums. "The Korean citizens no longer passively accept the agenda put forward by the traditional media; they are now producers of messages. Their writings - in bulletin boards, discussion rooms and their own web sites and blogs - have already intruded into the reality of journalism and beyond. Messages they produce trigger online discussions and consensus building." Chang Woo Young 3. Among diverse forms of online journalism, sites like dcinside, seoprise, politizen, cyworld, scieng, bric; portals naver, daum. 4. OhmyNews - Korean edition started 2000. Over 40,000 citizen reporters. All of International edition articles by citizen reporters or columnists or AP, etc. Pays small fee $20 an article. $11 million dollar investment by Softbank, Japanese corporation. Pioneered concept of "every citizen is a reporter." "Raise high the flag of guerrilla warfare" against "the massive media power." Oh Yeon Ho, Founder and CEO OhmyNews. "Citizen reporters can be called guerrillas," he writes, "because they are not professional and regulars and they post news from perspectives uniquely their own, not those of the conservative establishment." 5. Netizens on other online sites like BRIC and Scieng did exposure of fraud in articles of Professor Hwang Woo Suk. IX Some Excerpts from My Trip to Seoul in August 2005 1. Monday August 2, met with student at SNU and her friend. List of 15 different developments in netizen experience Netizens made it possible to challenge commercial entertainment industry, dog poop incident,dcinside,politics,cyworld "Now is the age of ubiquitous internet." Cell phones "take out internet" "Netizens make new trends all the time and very rapidly. So if you are too busy to catch up, you go backward." 2. Tuesday evening, August 2. Dinner with corresponding reporters for Korean OhmyNews from Great Britain. Discussed "What 'netizen' means in Korea and how to view Korean Internet culture. online gaming, PC bangs, need monitor bad effects 3. Wednesday August 3. Interview with Oh Yeon Ho, OhmyNews Two phases in development of Korean OhmyNews. First, critiqued conservative media and corrupt chaebols and welcomed articles of underdogs in Korean society. Second phase, setting agenda for future 4. AM - Friday, August 5. Two MA students at Yonsei University. One spoke about blogs and blog culture. Other student looked at Blue House web site - need national id to post. Not many contributors. 5. PM - Friday, August 5. Visited web team at Blue House for interview Web site from 1995 (actually 1993) for comments from citizens. Web site didn't get many posts. If govt disagreed respond to post. Intranet used widely by staff at Blue House, don't use paper. Good to be able to meet with them but didn't get much insight into why little response from citizens on web site from the interview. 6. AM - Saturday, August 6. Graduate student from SNU Role of portals and commercial media in sensationalizing problems on the Internet by the way they report on and spread the stories. Cyworld used and helpful. DCinside as photography forum became more politically important 7. PM - Saturday, August 6. Nosamo activists (Nosamo online club Roh Moo Hyun) Jeong Hoi Jin - high school student when Roh began campaign for presidency. Became active and became head of student section Nosamo. Worked hard to get out vote. Felt anything is possible after victory. When we asked Jeong Hoi Jin if she was a netizen, "I hope so," was her reply. X Conclusion 1. Izumi Aizu did study East Asian networking and netizens. Government role in South Korea: good policies. Netizens role: "The Korean political situation changed rapidly during the past 15 years." Until the mid 80s there was no such thing as freedom of speech or freedom of press under the military autocracy. Now with the power of computer networking Korean people become very active and aggressive in exercising their freedom online and offline, a long awaited vale indeed. Now netizen is the common word for Korean people...ordinary citizens who want to speak up and communication" 2. "Is Culture Destiny? The Myth of Asia's Anti-Democratic Values," Foreign Affairs, Nov/Dec 1994, Kim Dae Jung. On the need for democracy in South Korea. "Such a democracy...requires the full participation of all elements of society. Only then will it have legitimacy and reflect a country's vision." "Culture is not necessarily our destiny, democracy is...."