A screen grab of Ilbe Storehouse's website A liberal lawmaker has drafted an anti-hate speech in online spaces law that would push operators of online platforms to remove posts containing derision or hate speech.The proposed legislation was prompted by public backlash over a series of perceived mockeries of citizens of the Jeolla provinces and the Korean democratic movement.Starbucks Korea came under fire for its "Tank Day" tumbler promotion on the anniversary of the Gwangju Democratic Uprising on May 18. In 1980, the military, under martial law, was sent to the city to quash democratic protests, resulting in the death of at least 165 citizens.Also, the election authorities faced criticism for an official video featuring skates, a popular fermented fish in the Jeolla provinces.Rep. Lee Hoon-ki of the Democratic Party of Korea said Thursday his latest revision proposal with 11 fellow lawmakers aims to combat a spread of derision or hate speech directed at victims and bereaved families of state crackdown on democratic movements and deadly disasters.This follows liberal President Lee Jae Myung's X post in late May calling for an open debate to look into the possibilities for far-right communities like Ilbe Storehouse to shut down, pay punitive damages or be fined.Rep. Lee called his revision to the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection a "bill to ban Ilbe Storehouse."Under the bill, an online user's derision or hate speech would be handled as "illegal information." Any regulatory negligence arising from an internet forum operator's repeated failure to take necessary action could trigger penalty surcharges on the operator amounting to 3 percent of its annual revenue, temporary shutdown for up to six months, or a complete shutdown.The media watchdog may block or restrict user traffic to the website, or block ad revenue for the websites to warn the operators before imposing monetary penalties or shutting down.