JoongAng Ilbo's Chong Wa Dae Correspondent Is Suspended

Chong Wa Dae Spokesman Park Joon-young said on June 20 that because of a JoongAng Ilbo story on June 20, the government will indefinitely suspend the daily's Chong Wa Dae correspondent.

Spokesman Park said that JoongAng Ilbo reported the briefing of National Intellegence Service Chief Lim Dong-won that was given at a dinner with Korean press publishers at Chong Wa Dae. Park said that this leak could have a negative effect on inter-Korean relations.

However, the article was written based on a meeting between JoongAng Ilbo's political reporter Lee Jung-min and members of the Millennium Democratic Party, held at 8:00 am on June 19.

The article was finished and sent for editing at 8:17 pm, before the Chong Wa Dae dinner was finished.

On the matter of President Kim's briefing of Grand National Party President Lee Hoi-chang on the inter-Korean summit, spokesman Park said that he has worries that if such information is publicly released it could affect the relations between the two countries. Future information may not be released to the opposition party, though spokesman Park insisted that JoongAng Ilbo's article and the GNP's press releases were not the same matter.

by Kim Jin-kook