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The National Tax Service said Thursday it will launch a tax investigation of the Chosun Ilbo and Sports Chosun, one of its subsidiaries. The probe comes five years after the last, devastating probe. The Seoul Regional Tax Office sent the two newspapers prior notice that it intends to conduct a regular tax investigation that will span 60 business days from Oct 20, 2006 through Jan 23, 2007. Under the Kim Dae-jung administration in 2001, the NTS conducted a four-month tax probe of 23 media companies including major newspapers Chosun and DongA Ilbo and slapped them with W505.6 billion (US$1=W957) in additional taxes, giving rise to cries of a crackdown on the critical press.
The Maeil Business Newspaper and its subsidiary cable broadcaster MBN, and state-run broadcaster KBS and its affiliate KBS Arts Vision said Thursday they also received notice of a tax inspection. The NTS did not reveal reasons why it picked only three media companies, saying a computer program selected the targets.
But there is speculation that this tax probe is also politically motivated. The last tax investigation came out of the blue amid a standoff between Cheong Wa Dae and press outlets that did not want North Korean leader Kim Jong-il to visit Seoul. The new investigation comes after Cheong Wa Dae expressed explicit displeasure about Chosun Ilbo reports on the North Korean nuclear test.
A former NTS official said the real target of the inspection was the Chosun Ilbo. Prof. Lee Jae-kyung of Ewha Womans University urged the government to desist from trying to get its own back through a tax investigation after it was cornered over its response to the nuclear test. The NTS should try to remain politically neutral, she added.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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