Open Net Won the Lawsuit against KCSC’s Illegal Blocking of northkoreatech.org!

Open Net Won the Lawsuit against KCSC’s Illegal Blocking of northkoreatech.org!

On April 21, the Seoul Administrative Court ruled that the Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC)’s decision to block access to the North Korea Tech website is illegal, and canceled the decision.

“North Korea Tech (northkoreatech.org)” is a website run by British reporter Martyn Williams which specializes in North Korean ICT issues, and is often cited by various worldwide news media. However, the National Intelligence Service (NIS) reported northkoreatech.org to KCSC as an illegal website, and on 24 March 2016, KCSC has decided to block access to the website as it violates the National Security Act for the only reason that it contains information on North Korea.

Martyn Williams filed a lawsuit against KCSC to cancel the blocking decision, and Open Net Korea and the Korea Internet Transparency Reporting Team have been providing legal support required. Open Net have criticized that this case is a typical example of the NIS’s indiscriminate reporting and KCSC’s unscrupulous acceptance practice, and shows that KCSC exercises its power to block without careful consideration, thereby infringing on the freedom of expression and the right to know on the Internet.

The court ‘s ruling is expected to be a momentum to advance the freedom of expression and the right to know on the Internet by putting a brake on KCSC’s indiscreet blocking practices.