"Korean Gay Activists Challenge Web Site Ban" 

URL:
http://www.gaywired.com/index.cfm?linkPage=/storydetail.cfm&Section=12&ID=8712
or http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/173532.html

Korean Gay Activists Challenge Web Site Ban 
by Adam Creed 

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA, Jan 10, 2002 (Newsbytes via COMTEX) -- South Korean
homosexual rights campaigners have today reportedly taken their government to
court over a ban on one of the country's first Web sites for gays and
lesbians. 

According to the Lesbian and Gay Alliance Against Discrimination in Korea,
access to gay and lesbian Web sites has been blocked ever since the
government adopted an Internet content rating system last year and classified
gay and lesbian Web sites as "harmful media." 

South Korea's Ministry of Information and Communications implemented a Web
content rating system in July of last year, coupled with national Web site
blocks for those sites that are effectively classified off the Korean
Internet. 

The Korean Information and Communications Ethics Committee (ICEC) was charged
with classifying content. In April 2001, according to the Lesbian and Gay
Alliance, it classified homosexuality under the category of "obscenity and
perversion" in its "Criteria for Indecent Internet Sites." 

The committee is supposed to be independent. But the activists allege the
decision can be traced to the Korean government's Youth Protection Act of
1997, which classifies descriptions of "homosexual love" as "harmful to
youth." 

That decision has blocked access to many gay and lesbian Web sites in Korea,
the alliance claims. 

Activists are calling for: "an end to this system of compulsory site blocking
by the Korean government; a revision of measures in the Youth Protection Law
that designate homosexuality a harmful influence to youth; and the adoption
of provisions barring discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in
Korea." 

The alliance is only the latest group to criticize South Korea's Internet
censorship laws, with organizations claiming they infringe on Koreans' right
to freedom of expression. 

The Net content rating system is based on PICS (Platform for Internet Content
Selection) technology. Korea's Ministry of Information and Communication
insists that the Internet laws aim to protect youths from harmful Internet
content. 

The Lesbian & Gay Alliance Against Discrimination in Korea is on the Web at
http://outpridekorea.com/lgaad/