This year's human rights report from the US State Department again mentions, in detail, the tax investigations of news media organizations in Korea. In its prior report, the US State Department noted the "latent threats of tax investigations against companies and pressure on advertisers." It does so again this year, and though it is careful to also treat the government's position and criticism of the press, its basic tone remains unchanged. In particular, the manner in which the report allocates a considerable amount of space to the tax investigation against the press is objective evidence of how, despite the government's assertions that it was necessary, it was actually an attempt to gag media critical of the government.
We do not agree completely with the position of the US government. But it is not a pleasant situation when a country with a president who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work for democracy and human rights comes under scrutiny for those human rights. Last year the report said that though the Korean government had given up on asserting direct control of the media, it continues to exercise indirect influence. The context is such that while the US expresses no concrete position on the tax investigation, it can be interpreted as an attempt to encourage individual judgment by presenting the reader with the situation and the results of the investigation.
The report notes that the Korean government sent hundreds of tax investigators to twenty-three news media companies to investigate them for 130 days. It says that this led to the indictment of owners or major shareholders of these companies, including the Chosun Ilbo and the Donga Ilbo, both critical of President Kim¡¯s policies. It quotes the government's position that the tax audit was a "legitimate activity and long overdue," and mentions how even though companies were made to pay massive fines and trials continue, "the papers continued to criticize the Government."
During the investigations, the International Press Institute and the World Association of Newspapers concluded that the Korean government was pressuring the independent press. The International Federation of Journalists, however, said that the tax investigations had nothing to do with press freedom. Opinion about the investigations may differ according to one's position, but what is clear is that this report is well aware of how there were aspects of the investigations that sought to control media critical of the government.
(March 6, 2002)
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"Press Under Siege."
