Competing Liberal Approaches to Problematic Speech: South Korea
Joseph E. Yi · 2023
In South Korea, speech suppressions are robustly bipartisan. Politically right-leaning actors target ‘pro-communist’ (North Korea) and ‘pro-homosexual’ (LGBT) speech. Left-leaning actors target racist slurs, and especially ‘far-right’ speech that supports Japanese colonial (1910-45) or anti-communist (1948-1987) regimes. Significantly, both right- and left-leaning censors claim to protect democracy and individual rights, specifically victim-rights. To explain, proponents of liberal-democratic values (‘liberals’) diverge on procedural and substantive rights and norms (PRN and SRN). Each PRN restriction is countered by a mix of partisan opponents, who would similarly restrict their enemies, and principled, procedural-rights-norms liberals. Toleration of controversial speakers is also more likely among persons with prior ties (contacts). Korea exemplifies the polarization, backsliding (Haggard and Kaufman 2021), and regime instability (Levitsky and Way 2022) threatening mature democracies; and how shifting coalitions, led by PR liberals, push back against such polarization and corrosion of civil liberties.