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Digital dilemmas in the (post-)pandemic state : Surveillance and information rights in South Korea Yoon, Kyong, 1974-

Abstract

Drawing on South Korea’s response to COVID-19, this article examines how the digital measures that were implemented by the nation state during the pandemic intensified the dilemma between public safety and information rights. South Korea’s highly praised handling of COVID-19 raises the question of how far digital technology can infiltrate everyday life for the sake of public safety and how citizens can negotiate the rapid digital transformation of a nation state. The South Korean government’s digital measures during the pandemic involved the extensive use of personal data; however, citizens were not allowed sufficient participation in the flow of information. By critically examining the South Korean case, this article reveals that the government coped with the pandemic through digital surveillance as a way to avoid physical lockdown, and in so doing, projected its desire for transition to a digitally advanced state while facilitating nationalism through a digital utopian discourse.

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Title
Digital dilemmas in the (post-)pandemic state : Surveillance and information rights in South Korea
Creator
Yoon, Kyong, 1974-
Date Issued
2021-03-01
Description
Drawing on South Korea’s response to COVID-19, this article examines how the digital measures that were implemented by the nation state during the pandemic intensified the dilemma between public safety and information rights. South Korea’s highly praised handling of COVID-19 raises the question of how far digital technology can infiltrate everyday life for the sake of public safety and how citizens can negotiate the rapid digital transformation of a nation state. The South Korean government’s digital measures during the pandemic involved the extensive use of personal data; however, citizens were not allowed sufficient participation in the flow of information. By critically examining the South Korean case, this article reveals that the government coped with the pandemic through digital surveillance as a way to avoid physical lockdown, and in so doing, projected its desire for transition to a digitally advanced state while facilitating nationalism through a digital utopian discourse.
Subject
COVID-19; South Korea; Digital technology; Digital surveillance; Digital utopianism; Information rights; 3Ts (test, trace and treat); K-bangyeok (K-quarantine)
Genre
Article
Type
Text
Language
eng
Notes
Open access funding provided by the UBC Open Access Fund for Humanities and Social Sciences Research.
Date Available
2023-05-31
Provider
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Rights
Attribution 4.0 International
DOI
10.14288/1.0432781
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/2429/84759
Affiliation
Creative and Critical Studies, Faculty of (Okanagan)
Citation
Yoon, Kyong. "Digital Dilemmas in the (Post-)Pandemic State: Surveillance and Information Rights in South Korea." Journal of Digital Media & Policy, vol. 12, no. 1, 2021, pp. 67-80.
Publisher DOI
10.1386/jdmp_00048_1
Peer Review Status
Reviewed
Scholarly Level
Faculty
Rights URI
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Aggregated Source Repository
DSpace

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Attribution 4.0 International