South Korea has detained a man for retweeting a message about the late North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il.  24-year-old Park Jeonggeun is being held by authorities for spreading the communist North Korean government’s Twitter message, “Long live Kim Jong-Il.” South Korea is calling his retweet a violation of the National Security Law, which makes “acts benefiting the enemy” illegal.  In addition to his retweet, Park altered a photo of a smiling North Korean soldier holding a weapon, adding his own frowning face and a bottle of whiskey.  Park, a socialist and political activist, says he retweeted the message to ridicule the North Korean regime. Still, he could face up to seven years in prison.  The South Korean socialist party, with which Park affiliates, regularly criticizes the government of North Korea and its late leader Jong-Il.  “My intention was to lampoon North Korea’s leaders for a joke,” he told Amnesty International. “I did it for fun.”  It seems as though South Korea hasn’t heard of the concept “retweets don’t equal endorsements.”  Amnesty is rallying behind Park, accusing South Korea of “failing to understand sarcasm.” Along with other human rights advocacy groups, Amnesty says South Korea is using the National Security Law to limit free speech.  “Imprisoning anyone for peaceful expression of their opinions violates international law, but in this case the charges against Park Jeonggeun are simply ludicrous and should be dropped immediately,” says Sam Zarifi, Amnesty’s Asia-Pacific director.  Do you think Park’s retweet should have landed him in prison? Let us know what you think about retweets and endorsement in the comments.  Thumbnail image courtesy of iStockphoto, EdStock
According to a report from AFP, South Korean officials labeled Park Jeong-Geun a national security threat after he retweeted lines from North Korea’s official Twitter account.  Those tweets included phrases like “Long Live General Kim Jong-Il”.