hankyoreh

the main opposition Democratic Party’s deputy floor leader

The Blue House has come under fire for allegations that it tried to manipulate public opinion about the demolition protest in the Yongsan district that resulted in the deaths of six people last month by increasing publicity about a serial murder case in Gunpo, Gyeonggi Province, in which seven women were killed from December 2006 to December 2008.

It was recently discovered that an official with the Blue House’s department of public relations and planning sent an e-mail to the National Policy Agency, saying that police “should heighten publicity around the Gunpo serial murder case” to divert attention away from the growing dissatisfaction with the Lee Myung-bak’s handling of the Yongsan demolition protest.

The allegations were raised by Kim Yoo-jeong of the main opposition Democratic Party.

In response, a high-ranking Blue House official said in a press briefing Thursday, “There is no evidence that the e-mail was sent through official channels.” However, when asked whether the PR official had sent the e-mail through unofficial channels, perhaps via a personal e-mail account, the high-ranking official did not deny the possibility, and said, “We are now figuring out what happened, including that.”

The high-ranking official also said, “According to news reports, the e-mail was sent from one PR official to another with the intention of generating more publicty around the incident.” This is being read as an affirmation of the idea that the PR official had in fact sent the e-mail, and as such raised the allegation that the Blue House may systematically be involved in attempts to manipulate public opinion.

An official statement made that afternoon by the office of the Blue House spokesperson said: “As we have said repeatedly, Cheong Wa Dae did not give the order to send, nor did we send, an official e-mail to the National Police Agency as was revealed by DP lawmaker Kim Yoo-jeong.” Cheong Wa Dae is the Korean name for the Blue House.

Park Byeong-gook, an official in charge of public relations at the National Police Agency who Kim alleges is the person who received the e-mail, said, “I did not receive an official document or an e-mail from Cheong Wa Dae related to increasing publicity about the Gunpo serial murder case.” He added, “The publicity guidelines for the case were determined by the police’s ordinary PR rules and no order was given by Cheong Wa Dae,” Park said.

The DP also called for the National Assembly to conduct an investigation, alleging that the presidential office may have been involved. Kim, who is also a spokesperson for the party, said, “No official at the presidential office could have done such thing without reporting it to senior officials. We will map out countermeasures by watching for a change in Cheong Wa Dae’s position.”

The document Kim presented as the e-mail sent by the official, who is only identified by the surname Lee and works at the Blue House “Office of Communication with the People,” to the National Police Agency PR official, who is identified by the surname Park, said, “To cope with anti-government organizations trying to increase the number of candlelight demonstrations related to the Yongsan incident, it would be desirable for you to be more aggressive in publicizing the Gunpo serial murder case.” The document continued, “This is a perfect opportunity to turn the negative image of the police, which has been tainted by the Yongsan tragedy, into a positive one related to the resolution of the serial murder case.” It also said, “As the press is only paying attention to the police, the police need to ensure that the candlelight demonstrations stop by continuing to provide information to the media.”

Ahn Min-seok, the DP’s deputy floor leader, said in a speech at the National Assembly that the Blue House should be punished for “creating a media blitz around a homicide” by attempting to cover one set of deaths with another. “It is the National Assembly’s duty to find the facts and punish those who are responsible,” Ahn said.

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