The independent press' mission is to keep watch on power. The mission of representative democracy is to keep absolute power in check. Both emerged on the basis of a public that was born of modern civic society and both thinks independently and acts rationally.

Currently the independent press, which is the institution of expression for the people who think independently and act rationally, and representative democracy, their institution of representation, are being challenged simultaneously, and that symbolizes the situation of our era. Both institutions are a community of the same destiny. Who attacks it, how are they attacking it, and why?

Seeing the situation precisely for what it is can be said to be the first step in defending the independent press and protecting representative democracy.

The crisis they face today lies in how this public is being exchanged for a "mass" and a "crowd" that responds emotionally and acts spontaneously to the symbol manipulation of political authority.

Looking at the situation with the press today, one easily sees the cause and effect. The core mission of the press in a democratic society is to be critical and watchful of power. By doing so the press participates in the molding of public opinion, and the process of public opinion molded in this manner encouraging self-correction on the part of power is the positive exchange between the media and power. This is not possible without an independent press that maintains an appropriate distance from power.

Since the emergence of the current government, however, the situation has turned the exact opposite. Political authority has unleashed an all-out attack on the independent press. The attack is indiscriminate in its means. To begin with, has blocked the press from carrying out its essential functions, by denying access and refusing coverage by the independent press.

Looking at the kind of choices President Roh Moo-hyun has made in giving press interviews since his inauguration, you are immediately able to draw a map of the press, complete with the media that are to be avoided and the media that are in good favor. The existence and news covering activities of the critical and independent press is being thoroughly ignored. This would be unimaginable in a properly democratic society.

The next means of attack being employed is the indiscriminate filing of lawsuits targeting articles and commentary, this while surrounding the independent press with newspapers ideologically in tune with the government, government broadcasting masquerading as public broadcasting, and auxiliary organs of the government that receive direct and indirect government funding but are disguised as civic groups.

There are programs from public broadcasting that attack the Chosun Ilbo and the DongA Ilbo. Demonstrations using signs and loud speakers take place in front of both newspapers. There is stone throwing by internet masses using vulgar and low grade language. There are campaigns touring the country encouraging a boycotts. These developments speak of their persistence.

The vanguard of these attacks on the independent press are attempting to dissolve the independently thinking and rationally acting people into the masses and crowds that can be manipulated by mob psychology and mass psychology, turning them into ignorant and riotous masses. The result is a reality where there is essentially no press, a situation you cannot find in a modern nation, since political authority blocks its ears to criticism from the independent press while the ideologically aligned media obey that political authority.

It is because of the same process and setting that the crisis faced by the independent press has led to a crisis in representative democracy. Political authority is circumventing the Constitution and National Assembly and the courts, all institutions created for democratic government, and instead engaging in various moves intended to deal directly with the people while regularly ignoring the judgments and decisions of a commission established by the constitution. Seeing that, you feel the crisis faced by this country for what it really is.

Such is the situation and yet the National Assembly, the institution of representation in representative democracy, is a greenhouse of massive problems that have consumed it as its membership holds nothing back about its ambition to protect itself and is now drifting and sinking. As a result, the past year has seen a contamination of economic, social, and education policy by populism, as well as of policy in the areas of foreign policy and security.

The reality of this country confirms again what the result of the kind of populism where a minority of planners orchestrate the masses on stage really is.

The history of the Republic of Korea since coming out from under Japanese imperialism 50 years ago has been the vicissitudes of bloodied struggle between left and right, war, dictatorship and revolution, and democratization to arrive at where we are today from being one of the poorest nations on earth. This hard earned history cannot and must not be damaged by the arbitrary historical interpretations of the one in power, who says the history of the Republic of Korea has been a seizure of power by injustice and frustration of justice.

That is why we pledge to not overlook or surrender to this struggle against the founding legitimacy of the Republic of Korea, a struggle which seeks to overturn history under the guise of setting history straight, or to the political struggle against the independent press and representative democracy.

The past year was a precious time, part of what will determine Korea's destiny for half a century to come, but we have wasted it in chaos, with a perversion of affairs of state, damage to the national interest, and a loss to national prestige. If we spend the year ahead and again a year after that in such futileness, and if we therefore become the straggler of Northeast Asia, posterity will not forgive us.

The Chosun Ilbo has faced the wind and rain of history, and on it are carved the wounds and medals of the turns and hardships, the glory and achievements of the past 84 years,

We pledge to go the narrow path of the independent press by saying what must be said and criticizing what must be criticized. We feel ardently that the only thing the independent press has to depend on is the sympathy and encouragement of the populace and our readers, and staying on the narrow path is the only way we can respond in kind to that sympathy and encouragement.