Book details government efforts to gag South Korea's opposition press
By freedomforum.org staff
10.26.01
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The South Korean government’s battle with the country’s independent newspapers is back in the news, thanks to a new book outlining alleged efforts to gag the press.
"New book on media audit ignites fresh political war" was the headline in The Korea Herald yesterday.
"Book claims intention to gag press” said The Korea Times.
And Chosun Ilbo, one of the principal targets of the government attack, headlined its story: "Book confirms tax probe into media planned by government."
Three weeks after President Kim Dae-jung said at a Jan. 11 news conference that the press in South Korea required reform — claiming that "The people and many members of the press are themselves demanding reform” — the National Tax Service unleashed a probe of news-media tax payments.
The Paris-based World Association of Newspapers and the World Editors Forum condemned the tax investigation as an apparent government attempt to silence criticism and last month the Vienna-based International Press Institute put South Korea on its "watch list" of nations "that appear to be moving towards suppressing or restricting press freedom."
The book by Song Han-yong, former political reporter for the generally pro-government daily Hankyoreh, claims that "preparations for the forced reform of the media were laid out as early as in 1998 and President Kim's top aides were heavily involved." That charge "runs counter to the government's stance that the tax probes that landed owners of the two big newspapers behind bars and imposed millions of dollars in back taxes on media firms were the decision of tax authorities alone and not politically motivated," The Korea Times reported.
The book quotes senior presidential aides who confirm what critics contended — that the government targeted three major conservative newspapers — Chosun Ilbo, Donga Ilbo and JoonAng Ilbo. The newspapers “hold a critical view of the Kim government's reconciliatory North Korea policy and economic reform programs,” The Korea Herald reported. The newspaper also noted that a ranking official is quoted as saying that "The tax probe is a matter of life or death for the Kim government."
The newspaper added that "senior presidential aides either declined to comment or wondered why the book was published at this point in time."
Chosun Ilbo reported that the opposition Grand National Party said yesterday after an emergency meeting of its Press Freedom Committee that the government's statements regarding "freedom of the press," "tax justice" and "a fair press" were all lies, and called for detained newspaper owners to be immediately released.
Bang Sang-hoon, president of Chosun Ilbo, and Kim Byung-kwan, former chairman of Donga Ilbo, and Cho Hee-joon, former chairman of Kookmin Ilbo, have been in prison since August. Eight other media executives have been indicted but are not in custody. Kim Byung-kwan was released from prison yesterday for health reasons.
Although the trials are not over, the prosecution has called for a seven-year jail sentence plus a major fine for Bang Sang-hoon and a five-year sentence and a fine for Bang Gye-song, managing director of Chosun Ilbo.
Yesterday, South Korea's main opposition party dealt a blow to President Kim with a sweep of all three parliamentary seats up for grabs in bitterly fought by-elections. The Grand National Party has now increased its strength to 136 of 270 parliamentary seats, according to Reuters.
It is uncertain what impact expected government changes will have on the newspaper situation. Kim cannot run for re-election after his five-year term ends in February 2003. A presidential election is set for December 2002.
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