Prosecution vows to tighten crackdown on pro-North Internet content

SEOUL, Oct. 11 (Yonhap) -- Prosecutors said Tuesday they will step up their crackdown on pro-North Korean activities in cyberspace, which they said have mushroomed to a risky level.
The Supreme Prosecutors' Office said they will hold a joint meeting with the communications watchdog and the national police agency early next month in order to come up with measures to tighten their grip on Internet content extolling or propagandizing the virtues of the communist country.
In the meeting, the authorities will also devise policy measures to limit locals' access to pro-North Internet sites based overseas, the prosecution said.
"Amid a national consensus and concern that (the proliferation of) pro-North Internet sites reached a risky level, countermeasures are being considered," a prosecution official said.
As part of the crackdown, the prosecution is reportedly investigating an unidentified Internet user on suspicion of spreading propaganda supporting the North Korean political system in his 120 Internet postings from August last year to recent months.
The latest pledge came after Han Sang-dae, South Korea's new prosecutor general, declared war on pro-North Korean activities and corruption in his inaugural address in August.
The country regulates Internet content that extols or propagandizes the North Korean leader or the political system of North Korea, which is by law defined as a national enemy since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty.