I have one habit. I tend to check the email addresses of people that I meet. As citizens of the most wired nation in the world, we Koreans have interesting and innovative usernames for various email and other online accounts. I marvel at creative email IDs and tend to ask their meaning, if holders are close friends. Not surprisingly, there are thousands of reasons behind respective email usernames. Sometimes, searching online for an account name delivers an image of the account holder as the first result.

Young people are superb. Whenever I send emails to students, I am amazed and amused by their creative addresses ― long, short, Korean typing sequences, celebrity names, you name it. Some usernames are so tantalizing that I almost think about creating one similar myself.

The nation’s IT creativity may have seeped into the sectors where the function should exude an official air. These days, reports from newspapers and TV stations carry the names and email addresses of the reporters and journalists responsible for the stories. Some of the email accounts appearing with the closing statements of particular reports sport similar creativeness and wittiness. Some usernames are quite amusing. In terms of helping others memorize their email accounts, they have succeeded, just like the addresses that we use in our personal accounts and social media.

Sometimes, however, these email addresses look and sound awkward when the stories being reported on TV under the usernames are tragic and grave. Consider some examples. A tragic incident in another country is brought to us by a reporter with the username “freshair,” or a global economic crisis is reported by someone who goes by the username “cuterabbit.” Or, it is “superman” that reports recent North Korean nuclear activities or “honaldo” that reports on the government’s new real estate policies.

These names are hypothetical, but the real ones on TV are not that different. You might want to check it yourself this evening on one of the main TV news programs. Newspapers and magazines also contain such witty IDs. Who could criticize creativity and hilariousness, but too many of them could lead to awkwardness, and wouldn’t help lend credence to the report being made.

Presumably, the situation is not that different with respect to those working in other sectors. When counterparts from other countries look at the business cards with these email addresses on them, they must be “amused” too. If I am not mistaken, in many countries, those conducting official function use their official email addresses with a standard format, such as the combination of the first and last name (or initials).

Perhaps this partly reflects the tendency that does not necessarily distinguish official email accounts and personal ones. One can be an ultraman in his personal email or social media account, but can’t be one in his official account representing the public interest. At least some basic guidelines should be provided and observed ― an outer parameter of an “official” creativity, so to speak.

The importance of using official email accounts is being mentioned as Hillary Clinton’s use of a private account during her tenure as Secretary of State has drawn attention. It has been many years now since the Korean government issued a regulation to prohibit public employees from using personal emails for official business, mainly in response to the increasing threat of cyberterrorism. Not only that, the distinction between official and personal accounts is critical to preserve an image of officialdom and objectivity of the matter being handled by the person using the account. After all, the issues being reported and handled are so important, and so grave.

By Lee Jae-min

Lee Jae-min is an associate professor of law at Seoul National University. ― Ed.