Kim Yoon-su, the press adviser to Millennium Democratic Party presidential hopeful Rhee In-je, said Thursday that Rhee's rival Roh Mu-hyun told a gathering at a restaurant in Youido, Seoul, that the country's media had to move in the same direction for the progress of the country, the unity of the nation and strong reform. Roh continued that if he was in charge of the government he would nationalize the major newspapers. Five journalists and Roh's press adviser, Yoo Jong-pil attended the August 1, 2001 gathering from broadcasting and newspapers.
Asked how he would nationalize the newspapers, Roh said the Bank of Korea could issue bonds with which to purchase them, adding it was necessary to limit stocks held by major shareholders. He said "I liked the Donga Ilbo in the past, but recently I have come to dislike its editorial policy. If I become president I will demand the chairman, Kim Byung-kwan to step down and if he refuses I will close the newspaper."
Kim said the journalists reported the comments to their respective companies, and he had confirmed their attendance, as well as the veracity of Roh's statements from one of the firms. He noted there were no reporters from the three majors; the Chosun Ilbo, JoongAng Ilbo and Donga Ilbo; present.
Kim continued that at a dinner meeting with 20 journalists in December last year, Roh confessed to spending a huge amount of money in running many elections, more than twice the legal limit. He demanded Roh to reveal the amount he had spent and account for the spending.
Roh responded to the attack by saying Kim's comments were outrageous, adding that even if he was drunk he could not have made such statements about the media, as they did not fit in with his concept of it.
At the time of Roh's comments, the prosecution was investigating complaints filed by the National Tax Service against certain newspapers, and the MDP member spoke for two hours off the record.
(Yoon Yong-shin, ysyoon@chosun.com)
See our list of related articles titled
"Press Under Siege."
