It appears that the ROK government has once again taken a blunt intrument and applied it sqaurely upside the head of free speech. For the past several days expats using blogspot or typepad have had access to their blogs mysteriously blocked. The chief suspect is the Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC). They pulled the same stunt last year in a futile attempt to keep the beheading of a Korean in Iraq from being viewed. It is unclear what the reasons for this current round of censorship are, but speculation seems to be growing that it has to d0 with Korea’s Independence Day celebrations. I guess I am so used to watching the leadership in this country kissing Kim, Jung Il’s ass that I didn’t think the fawning lovefest with the enlightend government up north would be cause for controversy.

Anyway, it sucks and it is pretty disgusting to see the government of a “free” country resort to such tactics. It is really a pathetic effort doomed to failure anyway, as most of us are still accessing our favorite blogs using a proxy server like unipeak (thanks to Nomad for showing me the way) to bypass the blocks KT and other ISPs have imposed. My original blog was on blogspot, but when I heard about last year’s outrage I purchased my own domain. Rest assured, LTG will not be silenced! (just in case I ever have anything of import to say here. Hey, it could happen!).

Although some folks appear to be apathetic regarding this outrage (absolutely no mention in the Korea media thus far) Kevin at BigHominid is poking the ROK goons with a big stick in a manner for which he is uniquely qualifed. Don’t miss this takedown, and keep scrolling to read all his posts on this topic. Of course, sometimes a picture can speak volumes, and this one captures my sentiments exactly….

I’m putting it on page 2 in order to avoid offending anyone with tender sensitivities….