Indictment of Japanese reporter draws mixed reaction

South Korean prosecutors’ indictment last month of a Japanese reporter on defamation charges came as a shock for both local and foreign observers. Japanese media, especially the Sankei Shimbun, which had sent the reporter to its Seoul bureau, unleashed a torrent of critical reports on Korea’s decision.

The case has all the elements of a high-profile media circus. No president in Korean history has ever attempted to start a legal fight with a foreign correspondent over a single news article.

Tatsuya Kato, the reporter in question, was banned from leaving the country for allegedly publishing an online article on Aug. 3, in which he claimed that a secretive meeting had taken place between South Korean President Park Geun-hye and a married man.

While foreign media outlets tend to view the incident as a reminder of how the freedom of press is restricted here, some Korean reporters have different ideas about what really happened.

“Everyone has the right to file a lawsuit,” said one Korean journalist. “Even celebrities seek reparations against people who write questionable online comments. Why can’t a president seek legal damages?” The journalist acknowledged that President Park was not the one who initially filed the suit against Kato.

“It’s a matter of responsibility. Journalists can’t simply publish anything they want. They must fact-check,” he said.

Park Do-je, a veteran South Korean reporter covering politics and social affairs, said the indictment did not puzzle him. “Cheong Wa Dae officials seem confident the president had no such meeting,” Park said.

Kato’s trial begins at the Seoul Central District Court on Nov. 27.

The Japanese reporter had written an article discussing rumors about President Park’s whereabouts on the day of the deadly April ferry disaster which left more than 300 dead. Critics have blamed the government for the deaths, saying rescue operations were tardy and unprofessional.

Kato cited the right-leaning South Korean daily Chosun Ilbo and touched on the possibility that the unmarried female president may have rendezvoused with a married man who had formerly served as a member of her staff. The meeting supposedly took place while the ferry was sinking and the government-led rescue operations were failing miserably.

Foreign media outlets appeared befuddled and upset about what they viewed as a “blatant” encroachment on the freedom of speech.

The Economist wrote, “Authoritarian tendencies resurface in a raucous democracy” while the Wall Street Journal said South Korea had a history of “stifling critics of the government.” The Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun wrote that South Korea had lost “a core democratic value.”

But some Korean journalists believe the indictment was just part of “due process.” According to these reporters, the case seemed less an attempt by the president to “cow the domestic press,” as the Economist described it on Oct. 18, than a lawsuit questioning the factuality of an allegation.

The ideological leanings of the Sankei Shimbun are also a factor. The Japanese newspaper is deemed to be at the forefront of the nationalist agenda espoused by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who advocates a revisionist view of history in a way that angers many in Korea and elsewhere.

The Sankei published articles questioning the validity of claims by former Korean sex slaves of the Japanese military during World War II, known euphemistically as “comfort women,” in line with Abe’s rhetoric.

Naturally, not many Koreans, including politicians and journalists, view the newspaper with respect. For instance, during last month’s parliamentary audits, Korean opposition lawmakers blasted Justice Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn for giving “the right-wing Sankei Shimbun a public relations opportunity” by indicting Kato.

It remains unclear whether the ideological underpinnings of the Sankei were a decisive factor in bringing the suit, however. Technically, it was a group of right-wing activists, not President Park, who filed the lawsuit against Kato. But given that the presidential office publicly condemned Kato’s article, many Korean reporters also think the prosecution was highly confident that it could ban Kato from leaving the country and eventually indict him.

Even among Korean journalists, views are mixed. The Hankyoreh, a left-leaning Korean newspaper, is highly critical of the Korean government in connection with the incident. In an editorial, the paper said the indictment had turned the clock back 40 years to the time when the military ruled the country, referring to Park Chung-hee ― President Park’s father.

Jung Tae-il, another Seoul-based reporter with a Korean daily, is one of those with mixed views. “I don’t think (Kato’s) indictment is groundless,” he said. “But I think the (Korean) authorities should have been more careful. And I wonder, could we say the same things if Japan had done the same to a Korean reporter based in Tokyo?”

By Jeong Hunny ()