South Korea, Internet Free World's 21st... "Government Attacks Independent Media"

In the "Internet Freedom" survey, which evaluates the degree of freedom of the Internet and digital media in countries around the world, South Korea ranked 21st, down two places from last year.

According to the "2024 Internet Freedom" report released by the U.S. international human rights organization Freedom House on the 16th local time, South Korea was among the "partial freedom" countries with 66 out of 100.

The score is 21st out of 72 countries surveyed, down two places from 19th last year.

Freedom House pointed out in a report that in South Korea this year, the government and the ruling party attacked and blacklisted independent media for reporting critical of the regime ahead of the general election.

Specifically, "South Korea's Yoon Suk Yeol President and People's Power Party used the logic of 'fake news' to justify their campaign against independent media ahead of the April 2024 general election," he said. "The authorities raided and blacklisted independent media outlets that have been critical of the government."

It also noted that the fact-checking center of the Seoul National University Press Information Research Institute, a nonprofit fact-checking platform that has operated for more than seven years, recently suspended operations indefinitely amid accusations of "biased" by the ruling party.

Iceland scored 94 points in the survey, making it the country with the highest degree of freedom this year after last year on the Internet.

China came in last for the ninth straight year with nine points, while Myanmar, where the military regime is stepping up internet censorship, tied for last with the same score.