Information and communication technologies that have been rapidly
developing have recently become the main route for the distribution of hate
speech. Discriminatory or prejudicial statements or fake news are spread widely
through social networking services to cause confusion and anxiety. Some
newspapers, broadcasts, or YouTube videos exaggerate and reproduce such fake
news. In other cases, politicians or economic or social organizations may use this
information to achieve their own purposes.
There are many examples of the current status of hate speech in Korean
society. The murder of a woman by a man in his thirties in a public restroom
of a karaoke bar near Gangnam Station in 2016 showed how misogyny may
lead to crime, spurring a social debate about misogyny. In 2018, approximately
550 asylum seekers from Yemen applied for refugee status at Jeju Island.
Unconditional hate was targeted at these Muslim refugees, encouraging racial
discrimination and xenophobia. This hate speech was then disseminated and
intensified by the media’s provocative reports, speculative articles, and fake news.
In September of the same year, those who were against the first Incheon Queer
Culture Festival expressed hate towards the participants of the event, threatened
them, and caused violence. This showed that hate can directly cause harm to
public wellbeing.
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