Minister apologizes for attack on the press

After howling protests from reporters, Jung Soon-kyun, vice minister of the Information Agency, apologized yesterday for a public letter he wrote criticizing Korean journalists. The letter appeared in the Aug. 22-24 weekend edition of the Asian Wall Street Journal.
Headlined “Standing up to the press in Korea,” Mr. Jung’s letter said that the relationship between the press and government officials is essentially corrupt. “The officials curried various favors with the media, maintained a select group of supposedly influential reporters at each government agency, wined and dined them, and regularly handed them envelopes of cash.”
In apologizing, Mr. Jung said that “there was some mistake in translating the Korean text into English. In the Korean version, I wrote ‘wrong practices of the past,’ but in the English version, the word ‘past’ was dropped.” He added that the error made it seem as though journalists today regularly receive cash and gifts. “I did not check the final copy. I apologize for not checking it thoroughly,” he said.
Mr. Jung wrote the letter to respond to a Journal editorial, “President Roh vs. the press,” which denounced libel suits launched by Mr. Roh against four major dailies. Mr. Jung said such action was necessary to “rectify these wrong practices as well as establish a new wholesome relationship between the government and the press.”
Meanwhile, the Journalists Association of Korea hit back yesterday, saying that “Vice Minister Jung’s article is far from true, and ... seriously impugns the integrity of a large majority of reporters.”

by Cheong Chul-gun