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Alerts - South Korea

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South Korea

Reports of intimidation and editorial interference in public broadcaster

Employees at MBCTV, and their unions, are concerned by government controls on state media and their diminished independence due to strong ties between high-ranking government officers and media company managements.

South Korea

Trial of MBC producers on defamation charges is an "act of revenge", says RSF

RSF calls for the immediate withdrawal of defamation charges against four producers and one writer.

South Korea

CPJ concerned by pressure on media

In a letter to the president of South Korea, CPJ calls attention to his administration's increasing pressure on the country's media and the arrests of four staff members of the country's second largest broadcaster, deeming it an attempt to stifle independent reporting critical of government policies.

South Korea

Court acquits blogger known as "Minerva"

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders welcomes blogger Park Dae-sung's acquittal by the Seoul central district court on 20 April 2009 on charges of affecting "foreign exchange markets" and undermining "the nation's credibility" by posting false information online. Prosecutors had requested an 18-month prison sentence for Park, who is better known by his blog name of "Minerva."

South Korea

Journalists' union leader released as deal reached at troubled TV news station

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders is relieved to learn that an agreement has been reached that should end a year-long dispute between the management and journalists' union at TV news station YTN. As a result of the deal, the head of the journalists' union, Jong-Myun Roh, was released from detention on 2 April 2009 and the journalists ended a 10-day strike.

South Korea

Journalists' union chairman Jong-Myun Roh held without charge; three union members released

(IFJ/IFEX) - The following is an IFJ media release:

South Korea

Journalist Chun Kaun Lee arrested, detained following government complaint

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders calls for the immediate release of Chun Keun Lee, a journalist employed by public TV station MBC, who was arrested on the evening of 25 March 2009 in Seoul on the orders of the prosecutor's office.

South Korea

Four state television journalists held in Seoul police station

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders calls for the immediate release of four journalists and union activists employed by state-owned television news channel YTN. The press freedom organisation has spoken to one of them in the Seoul police station where they have been held since their arrest on 22 March 2009 for staging a peaceful sit-in in the office of YTN's director-general.

South Korea

Blogger Park Dae-sung arrested for posting financial predictions

(CPJ/IFEX) - The following is a CPJ press release:

South Korea

Government interference at TV station leads to firings, suspensions of employees

(IFJ/IFEX) - The following is a 13 October 2008 IFJ media release:

South Korea

Government orders documentary filmmaker home from Iraq; CPJ condemns "onerous" travel restrictions on journalists

(CPJ/IFEX) - The following is a CPJ press release:

South Korea

IFJ condemns political interference in management of major broadcast media, government action against critical television programme

(IFJ/IFEX) - The following is an IFJ media release:

South Korea

Harassment campaign targets three main newspapers, seeks to influence editorial policies

(IPI/IFEX) - The following is an IPI letter to South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak:

South Korea

IPI welcomes president's commitment to improved media environment

(IPI/IFEX) - The following is an IPI press release:

South Korea

New press passes limit journalists' free access to government buildings, says IPI

(IPI/IFEX) - The following is a 19 November 2007 IPI letter to South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun:

South Korea

Government cuts Internet connections in press rooms to force reporters into new briefing centres; IPI board member protests press freedom restrictions

(IPI/IFEX) - The following is an IPI press release:

South Korea

IPI worried that government's media measures seriously damage press freedom

(IPI/IFEX) - The following is an IPI letter to South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun:

South Korea

Closure of press rooms "an explicit attempt to restrict journalists' access to important government sources", says IFJ

(IFJ/IFEX) - The following is an IFJ media release:

South Korea

Proposed "media support" measures will restrict free flow of information, says IPI

(IPI/IFEX) - The following is a 25 June 2007 IPI letter to South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun:

South Korea

Allow media greater access to public institutions, demands IPI

(IPI/IFEX) - The following is a 30 May 2007 IPI press release:

South Korea

Riot police club journalists covering protest

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders has written to Korean police chief Gen. Lee Taek-Soon to call for an investigation into the use of violence by riot police against 10 journalists covering a protest in Seoul on 10 March 2007 and the punishment of those responsible.

South Korea

Magazine editor fired and 16 other journalists disciplined in self-censorship conflict

(IFJ/IFEX) - The following is an IFJ media release:

South Korea

State-owned news agency seeks to close news market and monopolise information distribution

(WAN/IFEX) - The following is a 1 December 2006 letter by WAN and others to South Korean minister of culture and tourism Myung-Gon Kim:

South Korea

Supreme Court rules that some articles of newspaper law are unconstitutional

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has welcomed a South Korean Supreme Court decision which ruled as unconstitutional some articles of the law on the press and on media arbitration.

South Korea

Probe into secret service phone tapping scandal clears everyone except journalists

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders has called on South Korean Justice Minister Chun Jung-Bae to seek a revision to the conclusions of a public prosecutor's investigation into telephone tapping by the South Korean secret services a decade ago "insofar as the prosecutor's decisions violate the freedom of the press that is guaranteed by the constitution."

South Korea

US-based Chinese TV station expelled from APEC forum

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders has voiced dismay at the expulsion of a New Tang Dynasty Television (NTDTV) crew from the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in the South Korean city of Pusan on 15 November 2005.

South Korea

RSF concerned over new press law

(RSF/IFEX) - The following is a 27 July 2005 RSF press release:

South Korea

IPI concerned about two press reform bills

(IPI/IFEX) - The following is an IPI letter to President Roh Moo-hyun:

South Korea / North Korea

South Korean authorities block access to about 30 North Korean propaganda websites

(RSF/IFEX) - RSF has criticised South Korea for blocking access to about 30 North Korean propaganda websites. The organisation appealed for the week-old ban to be lifted in the name of free expression. But RSF called strong North Korean protests against the move hypocritical, since the Pyongyang regime forbids ordinary people from using the Internet at all.

South Korea

IPI astounded by assault on editorial independence

(IPI/IFEX) - The following is an IPI press release:

South Korea

RSF welcomes plan to repeal National Security Law but calls for withdrawal of draft media law

(RSF/IFEX) - RSF has welcomed a legislative proposal to repeal the National Security Law, a move which would benefit press freedom. But the organisation has called for the withdrawal of a draft media law that could endanger free enterprise in the printed press.

South Korea

Proposed repeal of National Security Law welcomed

(IFJ/IFEX) - The following is an IFJ media release:

South Korea

Internet radio station threatened, staff receive death threats

(RSF/IFEX) - RSF has expressed concern over recent death threats and harassment of a group of North Korean defectors who run the independent Internet-based radio station Free North Korea.

South Korea

South Korea removed from IPI Watch List

(IPI/IFEX) - The following is an IPI press release:

South Korea

Student charged with "disseminating false information" following circulation of images satirising politicians

(RSF/IFEX) - RSF has voiced shock over the 23 March 2004 arrest and subsequent charging of a 21-year-old student for circulating images on the Internet that poke fun at opposition politicians. The student, who uses the pseudonym Kwon, was accused of posting more than 70 pictures on 15 websites during the current pre-election period.

South Korea

Conference participants express concern over proposal to amend broadcasting law

(IFJ/IFEX) - The following is a 2 December 2003 statement from participants in the IFJ's Challenge of Public Broadcasting in Asia conference, held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, from 1 to 3 December:

South Korea

Police prevent release of balloons carrying radios to North Korea

(RSF/IFEX) - RSF has called on the South Korean authorities to explain why riot police recently prevented human rights activists from releasing balloons that were to drop radio sets over North Korea.

South Korea

Confidentiality of television station's sources under threat

(RSF/IFEX) - RSF has called on South Korea's prosecutor general to abandon attempts to get the privately-owned television station SBS to hand over politically embarrassing videotape recordings which, after they were broadcast last week, caused President Roh Moo-hyun's private secretary to resign.

South Korea

Media organisations express concern over government's new press policy

South Korea

IFJ backs appeal for reform of Yonhap News Agency

South Korea

Three journalists detained for over one month under National Security Law

South Korea

CPJ concerned about tax investigations of local media companies

South Korea

IFJ says press tax probe "not unfair" and backs case for urgent media reform

South Korea

IPI/WAN delegation condemns government's intimidation of the press

South Korea

IPI places South Korea on "IPI Watch List"

South Korea

IPI-WAN delegation meets jailed newspaper leaders

South Korea

IPI sends press freedom mission to South Korea

South Korea

Press reform "must not be derailed" by tax troubles of newspaper owners, says IFJ

South Korea

IFJ backs media reform and calls for an "end to wasteful war of words"

South Korea

IPI concerned by press reform issue's severe implications for press freedom

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