IT Revolution Won't Kill Newspapers: Samsung CEO WAN World Newspaper Congress Discuss Digital Media and Press Freedom The President's View of the Press World Newspaper Congress Closes in Seoul

Roh called for "institutional mechanisms that can hold in check the misuse of media authority” including "democratic control structures", saying only if those were in place were newspapers qualified to supervise and criticize. He warned a press that was biased toward the values or interests of a particular “controlling group” should not be allowed to dominate the market.

President Roh Moo-hyun reaffirmed his hard-line attitude against the press through a congratulatory speech at the 58th World Newspaper Congress at the COEX in Seoul, Monday. Immediately after the president’s speech, Gavin O'Reilly, right, acting president of the World Association of Newspapers (WAN), delivered an opening speech critical of the current situation in Korea in terms of freedom of press. President Roh, however, did not listen to O’Reilly’s speech as he had already left the conference area.

The president has been free with the term "media authority" when describing press organs critical of his government, while “controlling groups” similarly appeared to refer to those critical of him. But Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Kim Man-soo calmed fears that more controversial changes to the Newspaper Law are in the pipeline, saying the president's comments were theoretical.

Roh did not stop at his conflicts with the domestic press, telling an audience that included leading press magnates including New York Times chairman Arthur O. Sulzberger, "Newspapers need to look back to see whether they did not cause tensions between nations by ceaselessly exaggerating suspicions about weapons of mass destruction." Observers say that this statement was aimed at how the U.S. media has been reporting on the North Korean nuclear issue.

Meanwhile, Gavin O’Reilly, acting president of the World Association of Newspapers, strongly criticized the Korean government's newspaper laws through his opening address.

"Recent legislative moves in the area of the media do strike us as being somewhat incompatible with internationally-recognized standards governing the freedom to publish. Bills passed by the National Assembly which aim, among other things, to set limits on the market share of newspapers, are not -- in our view -- a sensible way of dealing with what some may consider is excessive influence,” O’Reilly said.

He pointedly singled out controversial provisions in the country’s new newspaper laws. "Restricting a readers’ right to subscribe to the newspapers of their choice is unusual, to say the least, and is not something that is prevalent anywhere else in the democratic world."

"As many in this room will attest, the road towards -- and evolution of -- freedom of expression and the free flow of information was a long and arduous one here in South Korea,” he said. “Comparatively speaking, the closing stage of that long journey here in South Korea has only really come to bear in recent times - and yet it is still not flawless. We are aware that significant tensions exist between major newspapers and the State, with claims made regularly that there are plans to cut down their power by limiting their freedom.”

O’Reilly said he hoped Koreans “will take these candid remarks constructively, as indeed they are intended." He added, "As an organization which exists in the first instance to defend and promote freedom of the press worldwide, we frankly never shy away from commenting on restrictions to press freedom."

(englishnews@chosun.com )