Policy-promotion sessions set

Senior officials from the Blue House and 10 government ministries will meet every Thursday to devise a new system by which the government can integrate and improve the promotion of its policies to the press, Blue House spokesman Yoon Tai-young said yesterday.
Separately, in a further attempt to promote government policies, the Government Information Agency yesterday launched a new section on its Web site called “Briefing on Government Affairs.” The agency said it will post announcements there that refute and correct any factual errors about government affairs reported by the press.
The first meeting on Thursday will be presided over by Kwon O-kyu, Blue House senior secretary for policy planning. The attending officials include the directors general of planning and coordination from the finance, education, construction and labor ministries, among others. Jung Soon-kyun, vice minister of the Government Information Agency, who stirred up controversy for his denunciation of Korean journalists in a letter written to the Asian Wall Street Journal, will also participate.
The measures have prompted concerns among media watchers of “undesirable” intervention by the government.
“The idea behind the consultative meetings may well be that the Blue House intends to intervene before ministries decide on a policy” rather than give a favorable impression to the press, said Han Jeong-ho, professor of journalism at Yonsei University.

by Kim Sung-tak