Probe Done by the Book

President Kim Dae-jung said Monday that the primacy of "law and principle" was respected in the National Tax Service's audit of 23 national media companies, and will be applied in the inquiry into possible criminal charges against six newspaper companies and the controlling owners of three of the companies.

The remark, made in a cabinet meeting at the Gwacheon Government Complex II, is Mr. Kim's first official comment on the tax probe since it began in February.

To date, Mr. Kim and his staff have remained quiet on the issue to avoid giving the impression that the Blue House was involved in the inquiry, political analysts said.

Analysts said Mr. Kim broke the silence to quell speculation that the tax audit was politically motivated.

Many observers added that Mr. Kim's statement was prompted by a recent opinion poll on the issue of the tax inquiry and possible prosecution of the the media firms. According to the poll, conducted by Munwha Broadcasting Corporation and Gallup Korea, 56 percent of the respondents said that they considered the tax audit "press control."

Mr. Kim explained that there was "no interference from the Blue House," and that fairness was ensured in every facet of the probe.

The president also reaffirmed the prosecution's full autonomy in leading the criminal inquiry into possible tax fraud by the six newspaper companies.

Park Joon-young, the presidential spokesman, said that if the audit had been intended to control the press the government would have kept the results of the probe a secret, "as former President Kim Young-sam's administration did," referring to the audit of media firms done five years ago.

Mr. Park added that by backing the investigation as an exercise in upholding principle the president ruled out any compromise being arbitrated between the government and the press by members of the ruling party － or any other political figures.

by Kim Jin-kook