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Member of Minbyun – Lawyers for a Democratic Society hold a press conference outside the War Memorial of Korea in Yongsan, Seoul, on Nov. 1 to announce a statement signed by 300 legal professionals, professors, and researchers calling for an end to attempts by the current administration to seize the press and urging guarantees for press freedoms. (courtesy of Minbyun)

Civic groups in South Korea held a series of press conferences on Wednesday to sharply criticize the Yoon administration for its rampant attempts to tame the press. The groups focused their criticism on the prosecution service, which has been carrying out a major investigation of news outlets that covered an unfavorable episode in President Yoon Suk-yeol’s past and Lee Dong-kwan, the head of the Korea Communications Commission, who is overtly trying to muzzle the media by replacing board members at public broadcasters. Members of news outlets who have faced various challenges under the current administration also gathered to testify about their experiences.

Minbyun-Lawyers for a Democratic Society held a press conference in front of the War Memorial of Korea in Seoul’s Yongsan District on Wednesday morning and unveiled a statement signed by 300 legal professionals, professors and researchers around the country who are calling for the current administration to guarantee the freedom of the press and halt its attempts to rein in the news media.

“Raids on news outlets used to be considered out of bounds but have now become commonplace. The administration is sending a message that it will punish any news outlets that [challenge] its security or criticize its most powerful members,” the statement said.

“Because the raids against current and former reporters at JTBC, the Kyunghyang Shinmun and Newsverse involve charges of defamation that are unrelated to the case against Shin Hak-lim and Kim Man-bae, who are charged with giving and receiving bribes in breach of trust, they fall outside of the scope of prosecutors’ direct investigation. In short, prosecutors have taken it upon themselves to investigate the case even though President Yoon Suk-yeol has not even pressed charges, which is a totally unprecedented privilege that nobody should enjoy,” said Cho Yeong-seon, the chairperson of Minbyun.

Korea’s National Union of Media Workers (NUMW) and the Journalists Association of Korea called on the National Assembly to impeach Korea Communications Commission Chairperson Lee Dong-kwan, who is pushing to replace the management at public broadcasters and leading the charge to toughen government scrutiny of media coverage.

“Since being named chairperson of the Korea Communications Commission, an organization that’s supposed to make decisions by consensus, Lee Dong-kwan has been overstepping his authority in his eagerness to muzzle the press and denounce articles critical of the government as being ‘fake news.’ The National Assembly needs to decide whether it’s going to let the clock on the freedom of the press go back 40 or 50 years, to the era of the dictators, or whether it’s going to take this opportunity to stop this outrageous behavior,” said Kim Dong-hoon, head of the Journalists Association of Korea, in a press conference at the NUMW conference room at the Korea Press Center in downtown Seoul on Wednesday morning.

The NUMW and the Journalists Association of Korea offered the following reasons why the National Assembly should impeach Lee. First, he appointed Choi Gi-hwa as auditor at EBS despite the fact that Choi had been fined for inappropriate labor behavior by the Supreme Court while holding a position at MBC, which should have disqualified him for the EBS position. Second, Lee dismissed Kwon Tae-sun, chair of the Foundation for Broadcast Culture (which controls MBC), and Kim Gi-jung, another member of the board — dismissals that were later halted by a court injunction. Third, Lee has taken steps to unilaterally obstruct the KBS board of directors during the selection of candidates for KBS president in breach of protocol.

During a meeting on Wednesday afternoon organized by the Citizens’ Coalition for Democratic Media and other groups, journalists who have been affected by the Yoon administration’s sweeping press crackdown voiced their criticism, describing the current state of affairs and discussing what needs to be done.

“I’m astonished that prosecutors would launch a compulsory investigation of news outlets and reporters who supposedly planned an interview to slander Yoon Suk-yeol before he was even running in the presidential election,” said Han Sang-jin, a reporter with Newstapa whom prosecutors are currently investigating in connection with muckraking coverage of Yoon during the presidential election.

“Two employees who held senior positions under former CEO Lee Kang-taik were fired today. TBS has currently placed employees on unpaid leave and is asking for voluntary resignations because the Seoul City Council [which is controlled by the ruling People Power Party] has cut all city funding for the broadcaster. Without any funding, we’ll have to go off the air on January 1,” said Song Ji-yeon, the head of the TBS branch of the NUMW.

By Lee Jeong-gyu, staff reporter; Shim Wu-sam, staff reporter; Park Kang-su, staff reporter

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