JoongAng Ilbo Staff Behind The Scenes

Chong Wa Dae spokesman Park Joon-young made a formal announcement regarding the suspension of the JoogAng Ilbo correspondent for Chong Wa Dae on June 20.

Park pointed out that the reason for such a strong measure could be attributed to the failure of the JoongAng Ilbo to honor its promise of 'embargo on report.' The spokeman alleged that the newspaper's front page article titled 'Kim Jong-il, The Chairman of The National Defense Commission Decides to Revise Regulations' could do some harm to the inter-Korean relationship.

However, Park's claim of 'breaking the embargo' is far from the truth. The JoongAng Ilbo gave a great deal of consideration to the article prior to its printing.

On the morning of June 19 in the Japanese restaurant Waco in the 63 Building, Mr. Z, a well-known academic figure who joined the special delegation to North Korea, held a briefing session. The young lawmakers of the Millennium Democratic Party, known as the 386 members (in their 30s, went to college in the 80s, born in the 60s) participated in the meeting.

It was Lee Jung-min, one of the MDP correspondents of the JoongAng Ilbo, who stumbled upon the chance to cover the seminar. Lee, who knew of the meeting due to a telephone interview with the 386 club members the previous day, decided to join the seminar. Since Mr.Z was deeply involved in the inter-Korea summit, reporter Lee had high expectations for him.

A total of 4 lawmakers participated in the meeting, including Jang Sung-min, Chung Bum-ku, Kim Sung-ho and Song Young-gil.

By 7:50 a.m., the talks were under way. Conversations and discussions followed for about an hour and Lee, after gaining consent from the participants, recorded the various exchanges.

The brief given by Mr.Z

"During the summit meeting in Pyongyang, Kim Jong-il, the chairman of the National Defense Commission, demanded that South Korea's National Security Law be removed. President Kim Dae-jung responded 'It won't be fair on our side. The North should follow suit with an equally controversial issue. A change must be made in the regulations of the Worker's Party.'

Northern leader Kim then replied with 'if that is so, we shall go into action first. A convention for the Worker's Party will take place.'"

"It is a phenomenal transformation of North Korean policy that allows for the acknowledgement of the U.S. Foreces in South Korea. Chairman Kim of the North actually said 'Having U.S. forces around is not that bad..."

Mr.Z and the participants then explained that such a sensitive issue might affect the inter-Korean summit and asked Lee to hold off on the media report.

By 10:30 a.m. Lee submitted his interview contents to the political department of the JoongAng Ilbo.

The political department agonized over whether or not to release the report. The staff carefully considered any possible negative effects that might result from the release of the article. They decided to further review the article and let the first printing proceed without it.

By 4 p.m. the announcement by Park Jae-kyu, the Unification Minister, came in. In summary, the aticle read "President Kim Dae-jung and Northern leader Kim Jong-il have widened their mutual understanding in playing a major role for peace and stability in the Northeast Asia region."

The report of Minister Park confirmed Mr.Z's earlier words. That move helped the staff to decide that releasing the article was not a mistake.

"The whole nation should recognize North Korean leader Kim's changed perceptions. This will add more strength to the June 15 South-North Joint Declaration and help create a more positive atmosphere in the nation."

Lee then wrote and submitted the controversial article. The desk then completed the delivery of the explanatory article at 8:17 p.m.

President Kim Dae-jung meanwhile invited the presidents of newpapers and various media representatives to Chong Wa Dae to explain the results of the inter-Korean summit. At the same time, Lim Dong-won, chief of the National Intelligence Service, asked to put an 'embargo' on newpaper coverage. The dinner ended at 8:40 p.m., later than the release of the problematic political report.