Korean Crisis

In the news, North Korea shelled an island where the South Koreans were performing a military exercise, killing two and wounding 16.  In the article that I read, which can be read HERE, I learned that South Korea and North Korea have had numerous skirmishes over the years, and I have to wonder about their internal states of affairs.  In American Studies, we are talking about civil liberties during wartimes, and I wonder how South Korea is doing in the civil liberties departments.

I learned, after reading the Wikipedia article on civil liberties in South Korea, that they are much more restrictive of free speech than other democratic nations, like the United States.  They do not tolerate sympathy for North Korea, web sites from North Korea, or anything North Korean.  Also, they don't allow songs or theater in Japanese.  It seems that in this time of tension between the two countries, both refuse to have anything to do with the other, and are trying to dehumanize them by denying the other of any form of expression in the other country.  Hopefully the prohibitions of speech and press will be lifted in North Korea and South Korea, but this seems unlikely.  We'll just have to make do with watching and commenting, or will we?