Dec. 26 (Asia Today) -- A controversial revision to South Korea's Information and Communications Network Act, driven through the National Assembly by the ruling Democratic Party, is facing a growing backlash not only from conservatives but also from within the broader progressive camp, with critics urging President Lee Jae-myung to exercise his veto.
The amendment, often dubbed the "anti-disinformation law," passed the Assembly on Dec. 24 as the Democratic Party leveraged its 170-seat majority. However, smaller progressive allies - including the Progressive Party, the Basic Income Party and the Social Democratic Party - either opposed the bill or abstained, warning that it could violate constitutional protections on freedom of expression.
"The criteria for judging what constitutes harm to the public interest are unclear," Sohn Sol, senior spokesperson for the Progressive Party, said in a statement on Wednesday. "There is a serious risk the law could be abused as a tool to arbitrarily suppress speech critical of those in power," she said, calling on the president to return the bill to the Assembly.
During the plenary vote, Progressive Party lawmaker Jung Hye-kyung voted against the bill, while Sohn abstained. Lawmakers Yong Hye-in of the Basic Income Party and Han Chang-min of the Social Democratic Party also cast abstentions. Even Park Joo-min, a Democratic Party lawmaker, abstained, later saying that key provisions he had championed - including the complete repeal of criminal defamation for statements of fact and changes to complaint-based prosecution - were not included in the final version.
