Parties Wax Eloquent in Media Taxes Controversy

Partisan potshots flew Wednesday at both the opposition and ruling party headquarters over the government's tax probe of national media firms.

The opposition Grand National Party held a rally, attended by some 500 party members, at its headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul, denouncing the government's tax audit of media companies as "press oppression."

"This administration is channeling all of its power to break down the critical press in the name of ending corruption," opposition leader Lee Hoi-chang said. "We should pulverize the administration's efforts, which are driven by an obsession to remain in power, to break the freedom of the press.

"The government is holding three swords to the throat of the press: tax audits, anti-trust sanctions and revival of newspaper distribution regulations.

"It is all part of its desperate effort to lure North Korean leader Kim Jong-il to Seoul by silencing its critics in the press and our party," the opposition leader said.

In response, the ruling Millennium Democratic Party blasted the rally as "defending tax evasion by the press."

The ruling party said the opposition is using the tax inquiry, which the ruling party insists was not politically motivated, as a pawn in its partisan game.

"We will deal sternly with the opposition's attempt to fuel regionalism by making this into a political war," said Kim Joong-kwon, the ruling party chairman. "We will not simply watch the opposition take advantage of the tax audit to gain political power."

A ruling party spokesman, Jeon Yong-hak, accused the opposition of "dividing national opinion."

by Lee Soo-ho