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the South Korean government objected when the newspaper published an allegedly errant report on remarks President Lee made to Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda regarding the sovereignty of the Dokdo islets

While the South Korean government is moving to impose criminal punishment against national broadcaster MBC’s current affairs TV program “The Producer’s Notebook” for an April 29 report about mad cow disease, it has not requested that Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun correct an allegedly false newspaper report about a remark made by South Korean President Lee Myung-bak on the issue of the Dokdo islets.

On July 14, The Yomiuri Shimbun reported that President Lee said to Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, “It’s difficult for now,” and asked him to “hold off for a moment,” in a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the recent Group of Eight summit in Hokkaido. It is presumed that Lee was referring to the Japanese government’s plan to describe the South Korean territory of Dokdo as territory belonging to Japan in a middle school teachers’ manual. At the time, the South Korean government said it would take stern action against the Japanese newspaper, calling the reported remark false.

However, an official at the South Korean embassy in Japan said on July 30 that Seoul had decided not to take action on the issue. “On July 17, Diplomatic Minister Kim Young-seon met with editors at the Yomiuri Shimbun and lodged a complaint. A day later, the Yomiuri reported on the meeting, and removed the controversial article from its Web site, the official said. When asked whether the South Korean government had demanded that the Yomiuri issue a correction, the official said, “The meeting was aimed at getting a correction published. However, the Yomiuri Shimbun did not give a clear answer about the correction.”

Apart from the correction, the Yomiuri did not report on what the South Korean government’s counterarguments were. The Japanese newspaper’s public relations team hinted the report may have been justified, saying, “As for the report, that’s all there is to it. We cannot reveal our reporting methods or sources.”

In particular, the Yomiuri did not report on a remark made by the Japanese Foreign Ministry’s press secretary, Kazuo Kodama, who denied the Yomiuri report in a press conference on July 14. Kodama said, “Contrary to what was reported, there was no discussion on the matter at the bilateral summit.” Although the Yomiuri removed the controversial report from its Web site, another report about the South Korean diplomatic minister’s meeting with the Yomiuri editors was also deleted from its Web site as of July 30.

In the Japanese media community, it is common for media companies to form their own fact-finding committees to investigate false reports made by the company and pledge to punish those responsible or take other follow-up measures when false reports become problematic.

It is believed that the South Korean government did not require the Japanese newspaper to conduct such an investigation. “Actually, it’s difficult for the government to file a lawsuit against a foreign media company in a foreign country,” said an official at the Blue House. “In addition, there were concerns that, in this case, it would have tangled (South Korea) in Japan’s intention to make the Dokdo islets a disputed area,” a Blue House official said.

However, if the controversial Yomiuri report turns out to be true, it would probably indicate that Lee and Fukuda had made a deal on the Dokdo islets. Accordingly, observers say that the South Korean government, which has called the report false, needs to demand that the Yomiuri Shimbun file a report on its counterarguments and conduct a probe into how the remark was reported.

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