Journalists\u2019 organizations are criticizing South Korea after the country\u2019s ruling party singled out a reporter over what it claimed was a \u201cborderline traitorous\u201d article.<\/b>
\nSEOUL, South Korea \u2014 International journalists\u2019 organizations are criticizing South Korea\u2019s press freedoms after the country\u2019s ruling party singled out a Bloomberg reporter with South Korean nationality over what it claimed was a \u2018\u2018borderline traitorous\u2019\u2019 article insulting President Moon Jae-in, resulting in threats to the reporter\u2019s safety.
The Democratic Party said Tuesday that it has no immediate plans to withdraw a March 13 statement by spokesman Lee Hae-sik, who attacked the reporter by name over a September article whose headline described the liberal Moon as acting as the \u2018\u2018top spokesman\u2019\u2019 of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the U. N. General Assembly.
Lee the next day also attacked a New York Times article published last October that said Moon was serving as Kim\u2019s \u2018\u2018agent\u2019\u2019 while advocating diplomacy with North Korea. Lee tried to discredit the Times story by bringing up its South Korean author\u2019s nationality. Lee said it was \u2018\u2018merely an article written by a black-haired wire reporter,\u2019\u2019 but didn\u2019t call out the writer by his name. In South Korea, the expression \u2018\u2018black-haired\u2019\u2019 is commonly used in nationalistic insults against South Koreans working for foreign companies who are said to be disloyal to the country.
Moon\u2019s office has refused to answer multiple requests for comment.
The ruling party statements by Lee came in response to a parliamentary speech last week by conservative lawmaker Na Kyung-won, who borrowed the Bloomberg headline to criticize Moon\u2019s diplomacy with Pyongyang following the collapse of last month\u2019s summit between Kim and U. S. President Donald Trump.
The Asian American Journalists Association expressed \u2018\u2018deep concerns\u2019\u2019 about the treatment of the Bloomberg journalist, saying that her safety was under threat \u2018\u2018simply for doing her job.\u2019\u2019
\u2018\u2018That she is being targeted by members of the South Korean government is also troubling,\u2019\u2019 the AAJA said. \u2018\u2018Threatening or intimidating journalists is unacceptable. Such activities have a chilling effect and undermine the freedom of the press for all journalists working in Korea.\u2019\u2019
AAJA-Asia and its Seoul subchapter, as well as the Seoul Foreign Correspondents\u2019 Club, have also issued statements expressing concern over the Democratic Party\u2019s statement, which the SFCC described as a \u2018\u2018form of censorship and journalistically chilling.\u2019\u2019
In a country deeply divided along ideological lines, being described as North Korea-friendly is a sensitive accusation for liberal politicians like Moon, who has been unwavering in his commitment for inter-Korean rapprochement, even in the face of North Korean threats. Moon has lobbied hard to set up nuclear diplomacy between Washington, Pyongyang and Seoul.
In an effort to keep the fragile diplomacy alive, Moon has tried to improve Kim\u2019s image and portray him as a credible diplomatic counterpart, describing him as a \u2018\u2018candid and polite\u2019\u2019 leader who sincerely wanted to trade away his nukes to bring economic prosperity to impoverished North Koreans. Experts say the breakdown of the Trump-Kim talks has raised further doubts about Moon\u2019s claim that Kim is genuinely interested in dealing away his nuclear weapons.
The presidential Blue House responded sharply to Na\u2019s comments, calling them an insult to both Moon and South Koreans who want peace. During her parliamentary speech, Na said, \u2018\u2018Please ensure that we never again hear the embarrassing talk that the president of the Republic of Korea is the top spokesman of Kim Jong Un,\u2019\u2019 referring to South Korea by its formal name, as Democratic Party lawmakers began shouting at her.
While criticizing Na, Lee described the Bloomberg reporter\u2019s article as \u2018\u2018borderline traitorous content that insulted the head of state while wearing the cloak of a U. S. wire service.\u2019\u2019
Moon\u2019s two conservative predecessors were both accused of suppressing freedom of speech.
Under former President Park Geun-hye, who is currently serving a lengthy jail term over a corruption scandal, prosecutors indicted a Japanese journalist on charges of defaming Park by citing salacious rumors about her whereabouts on the day of a ferry sinking that killed more than 300 people in 2014.
Before Park, former President Lee Myung-bak was said by critics to have turned major TV networks into his mouthpieces by filling their corporate leadership with close supporters.<\/p>\n