Martin Uden

Freedom of Expression in the Digital Age

A few things came together to inspire us in the Embassy to arrange a seminar on “Freedom of Expression on the Internet”, which took place last Friday. First was the anniversary of British journalist, Ernest Bethell’s death (see my blog of 11 May for details about him), then the case of ‘Minerva’ in Korea, a blogger on trial (and subsequently found not guilty) for spreading false information with harmful intent, and more generally some work we’d done last year on the 60^th anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights.

The dilemmas posed by the internet and its relatively unregulated nature are things that I feel would have attracted Bethell.  It’s also a live issue in both the UK and Korea and we have experiences and ideas to share with each other.  Both the Korean Ministry for Culture, Media and Sports and the Korea Communications Commission agreed to co-organise the seminar, and the Embassy brought out two expert speakers from the UK (Derek Wyatt, MP, Chair of the Parliamentary Group on Communications, and Dr Ian Brown of the Oxford Internet Institute – for their presentations, click here).  In addition, the Korea Press Foundation and the Netherlands Embassy helped with sponsorship.

On the day, hundreds turned up to listen to, and debate with, experts from government, business, media and regulators.  The presentations were of a very high standard and brought out just the issues that I hoped would get an airing, from the balance between protecting privacy and maintaining freedom of expression, to the question of legislation versus self-regulation.  Obviously, these are sensitive issues, and different countries will try to resolve them differently, but that’s why it’s good to look at them in an international context.

A fascinating day and this issue won’t go away any time soon…

Posted at 17:17 06 July 2009 by Martin Uden  |  Comments[2]

Meeting Kim Dae-Jung

I normally don't say much about the many private meetings that I hold in Seoul, but this morning I called on Kim Dae-jung, former President of Korea and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.  I went to see him to thank him for his continued attention to the imprisonment of his fellow Peace Prize recipient, Aung San Suu Kyi, and specifically for his contribution to the website set up for ASSK's 64th birthday.

We discussed Secretary-General Ban's visit to Burma tomorrow and the sad fact the ASSK's trial is to resume the same day.  It was encouraging to see the very clear focus that President Kim has on the plight of ASSK and his strong support for pro-democracy elements there.  Coming from a man who did so much to bring democracy to Korea, I found it truly heartening. 
President Kim kindly agreed that I could mention our conversation and his staunch support for the people of Burma.

Posted at 17:19 02 July 2009 by Martin Uden  |  Comments[0]

"Blood and Bamboo"

A bit unusual to do a book review in my blog, but I received a copy of James Church’s latest Inspector O novel, “Blood and Bamboo,” before Christmas and have only just finished it.  Church is apparently a “former Western intelligence officer” – and I can honestly say that’s all I know about his identity.  

This is his third mystery about a North Korean police inspector, but this is the first I’ve read.  I’m told that this isn’t a bad place to start, since chronologically this one is set back in the 90s during the severe famine that hit North Korea and so gives some background to the other stories.  The Inspector is sent to various places to piece together a mystery surrounding the murder of the wife of a North Korean diplomat.  A lot of the plot takes place in Geneva, centring on negotiations then going on between the DPRK and the USA on missile proliferation. The image of the leader of the DPRK negotiations trying to find anybody in his team who was awake and listening to a particularly tedious part of the talks is all too realistic.  But what impressed me most about the book was just how credible a picture it painted of Pyongyang and the grim struggle for survival that must have been the reality of North Korea during the 90s.

I'd be very interested in your thoughts about the book, or Church's other two novels.  Especially if you have been to North Korea, do they strike you as realistic, or should we just take them as decent thrillers instead of thinking we are learning anything about Pyongyang from them?

Posted at 04:52 16 January 2009 by Martin Uden  |  Comments[1]