An AP article that appeared in the IHT Friday about China’s online vigilantes was vaguely reminiscent of the wave of reports here in Korea that followed the suicide of actress Choe Jin-sil. In both cases, the internet became a medium for netizens to go on the attack against individuals seen to have violated societies mores. Both involved suicide.

In yesterday’s society section of the online news site Sina.com was a story about a 14-year-old student whose hands had been so severely beaten by her teacher that she couldn’t pick up her chopsticks to eat dinner. The report noted the student had also been forced to do 200 squats by the same teacher for failing to finish a task she had been assigned.

When questioned by the reporter, the teacher initially acknowledged the beating, but then later retracted her statement, saying she had never hit a single child. I read that and wondered what went through her mind that compelled her to make such an abrupt turnabout. Could she be thinking of the young husband whose wife posted images of him and his mistress before plunging herself out of a 24 story building?

The husband in question became the focus of a Web site in China called “Ren Rou,” or human flesh. Visitors to the site can read about the underhanded deeds of unkowing culprits and then proceed to locate and bury these poor saps in an avalanche of online death threats, excrement and even physical abuse. A court recently fined the operator of the human flesh site the equivalent of $420 dollars. A slap on the wrist, if even that, with the court citing the husband’s low morals as a reason for the light penalty.

Reading these articles, I couldn’t help but think about China’s Cultural Revolution years, when gangs of young Mao devotees would roam the streets punishing anyone even remotely suspected or violating the Communist leader’s principles. All were fair game in an environment where settling scores became as important as maintaining moral standards.

Similar events happened here in Korea not long ago, when online rumors and attacks played a role in the suicide of actress Choe Jin-sil. Her death and the part that online forums played in it have driven the government here to push through laws holding portal operators repsonsible for the content that appears on their sites.

In both countries, the Internet has become a vehicle for enforcing a loosely defined but highly volatile set of principles through fear, shame and sometimes violence. It’s an apt title for a Web site that literally devours people whole.