Roh Mu-hyun, the Millennium Democratic Party presidential hopeful accused newspapers, Monday, of writing malicious articles about the ruling party's primaries, saying he could not tell if the Chosun Ilbo was a newspaper or a weapon to kill him. In a radio interview along with his rival Rhee In-je, Roh said he could not recall in detail telephone calls from reporters of the Chosun or Donga Ilbo, with regard to his claims about the two newspapers applying pressure.
Concerning the response of the two newspapers being a natural one in light of his comments about closing or nationalizing the Donga Ilbo, Roh said that irrational allegations should be doubted even if there was persuasive and concrete evidence.
Rhee commented that this confirmed Roh as a radical leftist, saying anyone harboring these views on the media who wanted to be president would be a disaster for the country's democracy. He said one of the reporters at a dinner with Roh, where he made comments about the media, had come to him and described in detail the nature of the affair, adding that he decided to check the story, and three of the five journalists there confirmed it.
Rhee said everything would come to light if Roh sued him as the reporters would be subpoenaed and made known to the public.
(Choi Joon-seok, jschoi@chosun.com)
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