Example of illegal information praising North Korea. Provided by Representative Choi Soo-jin's office. 

It has been revealed that approximately 10,000 cases of illegal information, including incitement against North Korea's system and claims, or praise for the Kim Il-sung family, have been reviewed and sanctioned over the past five years.

However, it is reported that there is a risk of the collected data being lost due to a fire at the National Information Resources Management Service (National Resources) in Daejeon.

On the 14th, the office of Representative Choi Soo-jin of the People Power Party, a member of the National Assembly's Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee, received this data from the Broadcasting Media Communications Committee.

Under the Information and Communications Network Act, the Broadcasting and Communications Commission conducts post-review of information deemed to require deliberation, such as illegal information prohibited from distribution or information harmful to youth, and issues corrective orders such as deletion or access blocking.

Among illegal information, cases violating the National Security Act that incite against North Korea's system and claims or praise the Kim Il-sung family are subject to corrective orders after deliberation by the Broadcasting and Communications Commission.

Looking at the number of corrective orders issued for violations of the National Security Act by year, there were 2,119 cases in 2020, 1,795 in 2021, 2,071 in 2022, 2,302 in 2023, and 2,546 in 2024, showing an increase each year.

The number of cases reviewed and sanctioned for violations of the National Security Act, which averages around 2,000 annually, was only 610 in the first half of this year.

This is because, since June 2 of this year, the deliberation of illegal information has been suspended due to the Broadcasting and Communications Deliberation Committee (now the Broadcasting Media Communications Deliberation Committee) not being fully formed.

Representative Choi's office pointed out that since the resignation of former Broadcasting and Communications Deliberation Committee Chairman Ryu Hee-rim in April, the committee has been effectively unable to deliberate on illegal information due to a lack of quorum.

Adding to the problem, according to Representative Choi's office, there is a concern that all data, including collected data on violations of the National Security Act by the Korea Communications Commission, data from requesting agencies, and cases of deliberation requests, may be lost due to the fire at the National Information Resources Management Service.

According to Representative Choi's office, the electronic document system failure caused by the fire at the National Information Resources Management Service has made it impossible to check or submit documents related to illegal information.

Representative Choi emphasized, "In effect, the blocking of information violating the National Security Act and the response to illegal sites are not being carried out at all." He added, "Illegal information such as defamation, hacking, gambling, and violations of the National Security Act directly harms the nation and its citizens, so the deliberation function of the Broadcasting Media Communications Deliberation Committee must be normalized."

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