The chief of staff is like the second self of the president, the head of the whole collection of aides. You wonder whether you can call this a country with its head on straight when someone in such a position can start talking about means to kill news media organizations, no matter how much he may dislike their coverage.

“I think they’ll get hurt if they don’t take seriously what the president symbolizes,” he went on to say. Then he shocked everyone when he said, "When you kick your puppy, all your neighbors will kick your puppy, too - and this is the president we're dealing with.” We wonder whom Moon should be giving this lesson to - he must know that the press has repeatedly stressed how the president is a symbol of the state and that he should act and speak accordingly. And you cannot say it’s suitable for a top aide to the president to compare the president to a dog.

Moon just kept going, saying that there needs to be “freedom for journalists to say ‘no,’” and then asked “where has the Dong-a Free Press Committee gone to?” It was at this point that he drifted as far as possible from what’s appropriate for his position. You just can’t figure out how the second self of the president, who is supposed to maintain order throughout the land, can tell journalists to resist the editorial policies of their news organizations and in doing so have them stop their criticism of the government. This is an open agitation of internal discord within the media.

You have to wonder why there’s never a day when this government doesn’t blame the media for everything wrong and attack it. It would have to be bad for you to hear people asking if perhaps they think there’s something to be gained from inciting the press to criticize them. June 14, 2003