SEOUL - International journalists’ organizations have expressed concern over South Korea’s press freedoms after the country’s ruling party singled out a Bloomberg reporter over what it claimed was a “borderline treacherous” article insulting President Moon Jae-in, resulting in threats to the reporter’s safety.
The Democratic Party said Tuesday that it has no immediate plans to withdraw a March 13 statement by spokesman Lee Hae-sik, who attacked the reporter by name over a September article whose headline described Moon as acting as the “top spokesman” of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the U.N. General Assembly.
Lee the next day also attacked a New York Times article published last October that said Moon was serving as Kim’s “agent” while advocating diplomacy with North Korea. Lee tried to discredit the Times story by bringing up its South Korean author’s nationality, saying it was “merely an article written by a black-haired wire reporter,” but didn’t call out the writer by his name.
Moon’s office has refused to answer multiple requests for comment. Lee’s statements came in response to a parliamentary speech last Tuesday by conservative lawmaker Na Kyung-won, who borrowed the Bloomberg headline to criticize Moon’s diplomacy with Pyongyang following the collapse of last month’s summit between Kim and President Donald Trump.
The Asian American Journalists Association said it expresses “deep concerns” about the treatment of the Bloomberg journalist, saying that her safety was under threat “simply for doing her job.”
“That she is being targeted by members of the South Korean government is also troubling,” the AAJA said. “Threatening or intimidating journalists is unacceptable. Such activities have a chilling effect and undermine the freedom of the press for all journalists working in Korea.”
AAJA-Asia and its Seoul subchapter, as well as the Seoul Foreign Correspondents’ Club, have also issued statements expressing concern over the Democratic Party’s statement, which the SFCC described as a “form of censorship and journalistically chilling.”
“Questions or complaints regarding an article should be raised with the publication in question rather than personally and publicly targeting a reporter,” the SFCC said.
The presidential Blue House had responded sharply to Na’s comments, calling them an insult to both Moon and South Koreans wanting peace. During her parliamentary speech, Na said, “Please ensure that we never again hear the embarrassing talk that the president of the Republic of Korea is the top spokesman of Kim Jong Un,” referring to South Korea by its former name, as Democratic Party lawmakers began shouting at her.
While criticizing Na, Lee described the Bloomberg reporter’s article as “borderline treacherous content that insulted the head of state while wearing the cloak of a U.S. wire service.”
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