(Source: Freedom House http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=443&year=2008)
69 out of 1973 in the latest worldwide index of press freedom according to Reporters Without Boarders
“Police and the prosecutor’s office no longer hesitate to arrest journalists because of their reports. The prosecutor’s office harassed a team from public MBC television whose report on risks from imported US beef gave rise to major anti-government protests, holding one reporter for two days and making several attempts to search its premises.
Journalists and media workers’ unions reacted robustly in the face of “interventions” compromising their editorial independence. One particularly tough dispute took place at YTN television whose president was challenged for being close to the head of state. As a result four journalists were arrested and 20 others were sanctioned while a satirical news programme was taken off air.
South Korea is despite all this one of the very few Asian countries where there is real news pluralism. Although President Lee Myung-bak can rely on the support of the country’s three leading dailies which are conservative in outlook, there are also independent and pro-opposition media and large numbers of online publications.
South Korea, a country at the cutting edge of new technology and which has very active “Netizens” (Citizen Internet users), has been placed on Reporters Without Borders’ list of ‘countries under surveillance’. The government has in fact put in place the means to scrutinise online news content. Scores of Internet users, including the renowned blogger Minerva, have been arrested following complaints from the government or by individuals. Minerva, under his real name of Park Dae-sung, has been in prison since 7 January 2009, on the grounds that he affected “foreign exchange markets” and the “nation’s credibility” through his posts on the financial crisis in a discussion forum.
Under the national security law that bans all contact with North Korea, it is still impossible to view Pyongyang media and to publish any comments favourable to the Kim Jong-il regime.” from Reporters Without Boarders
Source: Kyu Ho Youm, University of Oregon, USA
“Freedom of the press is slowly but steadily becoming institutionalized …being accepted by the government as an important element of Korean democracy”
“Stronger voices of reporters in editorial decision-making … the power of the labor unions: reporters are directly involved in the appointment of the managing editors … the unions hold veto power over the selection of the papers’ editors …”
2001 tax audit of 23 major media corporations by the National Tax Service
Registration of periodicals under Periodicals Act, a right to reply, Broadcast Act, National Security Act
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