I found this episode to be by turns delightful and infuriating. To wit:

1) I love the Young Turks, but sometimes the host demonstrates a remarkable lack of understanding of the issues; here, he showed a total misunderstanding of the legal issues at play. These were covered in the On the Media segment (quite well, and at great length- to the point where I don’t feel the need to reiterate anything beyond the court got it right, because the FCC- at the behest of lobbyists- classified internet service providers incorrectly several years ago). However, I don’t think it is helpful or enlightening to listeners to listen to well-meaning liberal hosts who clearly don’t understand the issues.

2) The David Pakman interview was great up until the point where the interviewee drew false dichotomies between South Korea and the U.S. (explaining why a similar infrastructure project here would “never work.”) I lived in the ROK for over seven years between undergrad and law school, and I know of whence I speak. The reason internet access there is awesome (fast, cheap, and EVERYWHERE) is because the government prioritized internet infrastructure and dumped a lot of money into properly wiring the country.
A few things he got spectacularly wrong:
a) 60% of the country does NOT live in Seoul; about 48% of Koreans live in the greater Seoul region and Kyunggi-do. (Analogous to the DC metro area, if DC, Northern Virginia and Southern Maryland were all in the same state.) To be fair, the vast majority of the population does live in urban areas- about 80%- but these are spread all throughout the country. It was completely disingenuous (and/or ignorant) for the guest to state that it was easy for Korea to get everyone wired because they all live in “tiny apartments” (also not true- although I lived in NYC for several years, so my perception on this issue is likely skewed) in one compact urban area.
b) The Korean countryside was not left out of the internet revolution- cheap fast internet is everywhere, as are PC bangs (where you pay $1- $2 an hour to use public computers, and can also buy beer and snacks). This is true even in rural areas.
c) Kind of a tangent, but the guest seemed to think that Koreans who live in the countryside all live in idyllic villages full of remote cottages. Most Koreans who live in the sticks still live in soviet-bloc-style high- rise apartment buildings. It’s pretty surreal.