A Graduate Student Perspective: Soojin Kim, G3, Anthropology, KI Graduate Summer Research Grant, Summer 2023

Ethnographic Exploration of the Right to be Forgotten in South Korea

With the increasing awareness of unwanted online exposure and the advancement in AI technology, data privacy and management have become the critical contemporary issue, intertwined with sociocultural, political, and legal transformations. The South Korean government’s initiative to establish legal and institutional ground for “the right to be forgotten” by 2024 further highlights the significance of these matters. Originating in the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of 2014, the right to be forgotten entails “the right to obtain from the controller the erasure of personal data concerning him or her without undue delay and the controller shall have an obligation to erase personal data without undue delay. [1] In the Korean legal system as well, a similar legal frame appeared in “the right to personal data self-determination (kaeinjŏngbo-chagigyŏlchŏnggwŏn)” and has been discussed in the contexts of the digital archives of media press (Lee & Koo 2008; Joo 2015) and, more broadly, in relation to “defamation by truth” (Park 2020). However, the increasing cases of digital sex crime and cyberbullying have sparked societal demands and actions for personal and impersonated data erasure in South Korea.

Against this backdrop, my doctoral project seeks to delve deeper into the sociocultural, technological, and gendered dimensions of data tracking and removal in South Korea. Specifically, I seek to understand the hopes, challenges, and negotiations among diverse stakeholders with varying interests and values surrounding digital data storage, tracking, and removal. Owing to the KI’s generous support, I was granted opportunities to pave the way for my upcoming ethnographic dissertation fieldwork. I have been fortunate to connect with a wide range of individuals, including legal professionals, researchers, activist groups, and policymakers, all engaged in the discourses and practices of online erasure. They have shown their utmost hospitality and support for my research project, providing not only informative insights but also fostering enduring memories of solidarity and connectedness. Through participation in public events, governmental and scholarly conferences, as well as informal gatherings, I could follow up with the latest discussions, including the responses against online sexual harassment and cyberbullying, data privacy concerns, and the quest for compatibility between industrial interests in technological advancement (requiring the maximization of data retention) and the protection of personal information, including its disposal.  

In doing so, one of the primary objectives of this summer preliminary research was to draw an outline of the institutional networks in solidarity or cooperation. However, the more I endeavored to map out these networks and the flows of discourses and practices within them, the more it turns out to be complicated. I view this challenge and confusion as the potentiality within my research, enabling me to unravel and analyze the complexity of the systems for the digital erasure at various levels.

Lastly but not least, thanks to the KI’s global networks in the field of Korean Studies, I had the privilege to present my research frameworks and plans at a Korean Studies conference held at Seoul National University. This experience provided me with invaluable feedback and insights to further elaborate my research questions and design.

I want to emphasize my heartfelt appreciation to the Korea Institute once again for affording me this opportunity to pursue my doctoral research. I hope my research reciprocates this generosity by making meaningful contributions to the advancement of Korean Studies and society.

[References]

Park, Kyung Sin. 2020. “Do We Need to Separate Privacy and Reputation? USA, Europe and Korea Compared.” In Comparative Privacy and Defamation, by András Koltay and Paul Wragg, 130–46. Edward Elgar Publishing.

이재진, 구본권. 2008. “인터넷상의 지속적 기사 유통으로 인한 피해의 법적 쟁점: '잊혀질 권리' 인정의 필요성에 대한 탐색적 연구.” 한국방송학보 22(3): 172–212.

주정민. 2015. “온라인 언론보도 내용의 기사삭제청구권과 잊혀질 권리.” 언론과 법 14(2): 39–62.