Senior presidential secretary apologizes for comments about stabbing of journalist, Gwangju uprising

Politics

Published: 18 Mar. 2024, 15:24 Updated: 18 Mar. 2024, 16:15

Senior presidential secretary apologizes for comments about stabbing of journalist, Gwangju uprising

Hwang Sang-moo, senior presidential secretary for civil and social affairs, speaks during a briefing at the presidential office in Yongsan District, central Seoul in January. [YONHAP]

Hwang Sang-moo, senior presidential secretary for civil and social affairs, officially apologized Saturday for an inappropriate comment about a 1988 attack on a journalist.

During a private gathering with reporters on Thursday, Hwang referred to an incident where a journalist from a business newspaper was stabbed twice at Apgujeong Hyundai Apartment in Gangnam, southern Seoul, in 1988, telling MBC to "listen carefully."

Hwang later said that he was "joking."

Public broadcaster MBC has had a tumultuous relationship with the Yoon Suk Yeol administration since it alleged the president made obscene remarks about U.S. President Joe Biden and U.S. lawmakers on a hot mic in New York in September 2022.

MBC aired a report about Hwang’s remarks on Thursday.

In August 1988, soldiers and agents — acting on orders from the military's intelligence command — assaulted and stabbed a senior journalist, Oh Hong-keun, who had been critical of the military, with a sashimi knife.

Oh had written a column in that month's edition of the Monthly JoongAng magazine criticizing the militarization of Korean society under the military junta of the early 1980s. The incident was dubbed the "sashimi knife terror attack."

Hwang's remarks sparked controversy, with critics accusing the senior official of violating freedom of the press.

“I apologize to the people for the concern my words and behavior have caused,” Hwang said in a statement issued Saturday, adding he is also sorry to reporters for "failing to consider their stances and positions.”

“I shall behave more carefully and discreetly as a public servant and official."

“I also apologize to the victim's relatives, who do not want to remember the incident," Hwang wrote.

Oh, who later served as a presidential spokesperson for the late President Kim Dae-jung, died in March 2022.

MBC's report on Thursday also included comments by Hwang that seemingly cast doubt over the May 18 Democratization Movement.

Hwang reportedly said that "normal citizens cannot engage in organized actions like gathering together four or five times a night, despite being continuously dispersed, unless there were trained agents.”

The May 18 Democratization Movement refers to a pro-democracy uprising in the southwestern city of Gwangju that began on May 18, 1980.

The uprising was against late former President Chun Doo Hwan, who seized power in a military coup a year earlier.

The liberal Democratic Party and a minor progressive party, the Justice Party, demanded Hwang's replacement. Reporters’ groups, including the Journalists Association of Korea and the National Union of Media Workers, also called for Hwang’s removal from the presidential office.

Han Dong-hoon, interim leader of the conservative People Power Party (PPP), said, “Although I do not know the background or context, the words [from Hwang] themselves seem inappropriate,” during his gathering with reporters in Gwangju on Friday.

“The attack was mentioned as an example of a suppressive media environment when journalists were struggling to achieve freedom of press [in the past],” an official from the presidential office told the JoongAng Ilbo, an affiliate of the Korea JoongAng Daily, on Sunday.

“Whatever the reason, Hwang apologized after admitting that his remarks were inappropriate. It does not seem to be an issue that requires Hwang to step down from his post.”

The official apology seems intended to reduce the potential harm Hwang's comments could do to the PPP — the president's party — in the upcoming April 10 general election.

On Monday, the presidential office released a statement dismissing allegations of media censorship and power abuse, saying that “respecting the freedom of the press and their responsibilities are the key principles" of its governance.

“Unlike former governments, the Yoon administration has not spied on journalists with the help of the intelligence agency or launched tax investigations against media companies by mobilizing the National Tax Service,” the statement read. “The government has no intent or system to carry out such actions.”

“The presidential office has never exercised power over people from media companies, and it will not do so in the future.”

BY HYUN IL-HOON, LEE SOO-JUNG [lee.soojung1@joongang.co.kr]