The letter rebutted the claim that President Roh Moo-hyun's attacks on the press companies began a few days after the press revealed wrongdoing by one of his close aides, saying that Roh had been calling for a "healthy tension" between the government and press even before he took office as president.

While the insitute claimed that the Fair Trade Commission began investigations on the press companies soon after Roh's speech at a state forum on Aug. 2, the government pointed out that the commission said June 25 that it would starting investigations into the illicit promotion and sales of newspapers.

The government also said that the South Korean press enjoys an unprecedented amount of freedom and asked that the institute evaluate the situation in Korea based on accurate information and a balanced perspective.

The Grand National Party spokeswoman Kim Young-sun criticized the information service, saying the institute is a self-governing international organization with a universal perspective and ability to judge press freedoms.

The institute's board of directors unanimously agreed last week to observe South Korea as a country suppressing press freedoms. (Han Jae-hyun, rookie@chosun.com )