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Culture and Tourism Minister Lee Chang-dong on Tuesday addressed the recent condemnation by International Press Institute's condemnation of South Korea as a country that intimidates and harasses the media. Appearing before the National Assembly's culture and tourism committee, Lee answered questions from opposition party legislators who harshly criticized President Roh and his policies toward the news industry, and criticized the IPI resolution.
Representative Jung Jin-seok of the United Liberal Democratic Party said that the institute had raised questions about Roh's constant attacks against the media and claimed that the president had been trying to suffocate newspaper companies by instituting successive lawsuits against them. "Wasn't the condemnation sensible?" he asked. Lee responded that South Korea has been humiliated by the condemnation and the institute's perspective was biased, highlighting only one side of the South Korean media.
Lee said that he received an explanation about the condemnation from one of the Korean delegates to the general meeting of the IPI, but that even the delegate did not know exactly how the resolution was passed. The minister had asked the general-director of the institute to inform him if a resolution related to South Korea would be adopted, but the institute passed the resolution without doing so, Lee claimed. The minister said he hoped that the institute would take a deep interest in the situation in Korea, and not "just pay attention to one-sided arguments."
Representative Jung Byung-kuk from the Grand National Party said that the Fair Trade Commission's investigation into the newspaper industry after President Roh's criticism against certain newspapers and the president's legal actions against the newspaper companies are evidence to support the notion that the government is attacking the press. Responding to this remark, Lee also answered "He doesn't think so, but just theopposite."
The text of the IPI's resolution follows
Meeting at its Annual General Meeting on 15 Semptember 2003 in Salzburg, the IPI membership unanimously passed a resolution condemning continuing attempts by South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun to intimidate and harass the major independent newspapers.
For example, speaking at a conference to evaluate the government¡¯s progress in office and attended by more than 130 cabinet ministers, vice ministers and other staff, Roh accused the media of ¡°trampling on government officials...¡± and said he would not tolerate ¡°the tyranny of the privileged media.¡±
Roh later called for the strict enforcement of alleged unfair business practices within the newspaper industry, claimed the government had a right to sue the media through the courts, and hinted at the need for a civil servant to oversee the media¡¯s activities.
The president¡¯s attack on the media came only days after newspapers had exposed the alleged corruption of his personal secretary, Yang Gil-seung. After fighting to retain the beleaguered secretary Roh was eventually forced to accept his resignation.
One day after the angry statements of Roh, the Fair Trade Commission announced that it would investigate 200 newspaper distribution centers and more than 2,000 readers nationwide for 40 days to check for evidence of unfair trading. An FTC spokesperson said the timing of the announcement was unrelated to the president¡¯s remarks.
The IPI is deeply troubled by the situation in South Korea. Rather than upholding the media¡¯s right of independence, the present government appears set on a course of confrontation with selected media. Indeed, the speed with which the FTC investigation was launched, coming so soon after Roh¡¯s speech, shows that the full power of the government is once again being mobilized against some print media.
With its close similarities to the previous administration¡¯s tax investigations of the newspapers, the FTC¡¯s investigation is evidence that attacks on the media are seen by government as the best means of diverting the Korean public¡¯s attention away from more important issues. Moreover, the threat to use the civil courts is an attempt to stifle the critical major papers, although it is a firm principle of international law that officials must accept greater scrutiny than private persons.
The membership of the IPI calls on President Roh Moo-hyun to respect journalists¡¯ right to report freely and to refrain from using the institutions of government as the instruments of media harassment and intimidation.
(Cho Hee-cheon, hccho@chosun.com )
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