February 8, 2001 will be recorded as a day of shame by the Korean media. Under a government putting forward human rights and democracy; not Japanese colonial, or military dictators' rule; the authorities, swarming like angry bees, attacked the media companies. This sounded a warning bell for the freedom of the nation's press. What serious crime had been committed to warrant 1,000 National Tax Service investigators tracing bank accounts of even the family members of journalists for 142 days?
Media companies are not excluded from tax probes if they evade paying taxes, even by mistake, but if the purpose, method and result of the investigation last year are looked into, it was clearly an attempt by the government to control the press. The ruling party and administration put forward "media reform" and "justice in taxation" as the reasons behind the probe. If the media were riddled with problems, they could be solved one-by-one, while tax issues could be handled item-by-item and back tax levied.
However, the tax probe into the media companies has now been found to have been an attempt at suppression according to a detailed plan and scenario. The intention of the government was to tame a press critical of its North Korea policy and its general mismanagement. The procedure from investigations by the NTS, Fair Trade Commission and prosecution to the arrest of certain newspaper owners was coordinated as if it were a military operation. The levying of more than W500 billion in back tax was enough to raise suspicions that the government was seeking to bleed the media to death.
What has the government gained from the enormous tax probe and was it, as claimed by the ruling party, the rightful execution of law to promote justice in taxation? It only raised arguments on the fairness of taxation and invited criticism of the NTS for destroying the basic integrity of the reasons for investigation. The government tried to tame critical media, but to the contrary choked itself, because of the complete collapse of its own morality. Ahn Jung-nam, the then almighty NTS head has fled overseas because of suspicions of real estate speculation and evading tax. Shin Seung-nam, the prosecutor general at the time, is about to be questioned by the special prosecutor's team. Shin Kwang-ok the then senior presidential secretary for civil and social affairs, and Park Joon-young, the presidential press spokesman, have been questioned by the prosecution on a variety of bribery and corruption charges. The sword bearers of the investigation have been toppled in less than a year due to their own immorality, and the opposition spokesman is right to label the entire affair as "political suppression committed by dirty hands."
Even though there still remain the wounds from internecine fighting within the media, the press endured the unjustifiable probe and survived the spiritual and physical pains it brought. The media stood firm and was not tamed as intended by the government. We will never forget the attempt by President Kim Dae-jung's government to destroy the freedom of Korea's press starting February 8, 2001.
(February 9, 2002)
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"Press Under Siege."
NK always says "reunification," not "unification."
