hankyoreh

Tim Shorrock’s Dec. 1 article from The Nation magazine

A freelance contributor to The Nation magazine disclosed that his editor received from the South Korean Consulate General in New York City protesting an article he had written criticizing President Park Geun-hye. Whatever the reason, it is abundantly clear that the consulate’s excessive reaction to an article criticizing President Park has brought shame on the country before the entire world.

In its Dec. 1st issue, The Nation ran a piece called “In South Korea, a Dictator’s Daughter Cracks Down on Labor,” which was written by Tim Shorrock. The gist of the article is that President Park is following in the footsteps of her father, who was a dictator, by repressing workers and ordinary people who are opposed to authoritarian policies. The article cited the example of how she equated masked protestors and terrorists.

On Dec. 4, three days later, this reporter wrote a Facebook post quoting his editor talking about receiving a number of emails from the South Korean Consulate in New York asking to discuss the article but that there had been no claims about factual errors.

In response to this, the South Korean Consulate General in New York denied that it had complained about the article. When asked if there were errors in the article, they explained that there were difficulties inherent in South Korea’s rapid industrialization and democratization and that the Consulate had decided to submit a letter to the magazine on this point.

While both sides have different stories to tell, what is clear is the fact that the consulate took action that could easily have been misunderstood in connection with a media report that is critical of President Park.

While it is impossible to know whether the consulate took this action on its own or was instructed to do so by a higher authority, it is not only inappropriate but also disgraceful for one country’s diplomats to comment on the editorial position of a magazine in another country.

The important thing is to avoid actions that the foreign media will criticize, not to complain when the foreign media runs critical stories on those actions.

Just like the editorial in the New York Times criticizing the administration of President Park - saying that “the biggest risk to South Korea’s reputation abroad, however, is not economic but political” - and a sarcastic tweet by the Wall Street Journal Seoul bureau chief about Park’s comparison of masked protestors to terrorists, this ought to be viewed as a lesson in what not to do.

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]