[USFK Forums] N. K. slams South for reporter flap [Korea Herald]

[C. Y. Lee]

Uploaded by C. Y. Lee on Saturday, March 25, 2006

N.K. slams Southfor reporter flap

The Korea Herald, Saturday, March 25, 2006

North Korea yesterday insisted that South Korea take responsibility for withdrawing its press corps from covering inter-Korean family reunions at Mount Geumgang on Thursday.

Twenty-one reporters of South Korea`s press corps left the reunion site on Thursday night, following a clash over a politically-sensitive TV report by SBS about a South Korean fisherman who was reunited with his wife this week after being abducted by the North in the 1960s.

North Korea objected to the term "abduction" being used in the SBS broadcast and put a ban on reporters from the South covering reunion events.

The North Korean Central News Agency said in a statement that the South Korean press corps should "never think about returning to cover future family reunions taking place at Mount Geumgang."

"The South recklessly violated a mutual agreement regarding reporting regulations," it added.

Nevertheless, the North said it will continue the ongoing reunions given that the head of the South Korean delegation has "acknowledged its mistake and expressed regret about its actions."

But in a sharp rebuttal, South Korea`s Unification Ministry said it never offered an apology to the North over the incident and that Pyongyang should be held responsible.

"We did not acknowledge any fault on our part. We only expressed regret that the reunion events were not executed smoothly and that news coverage was restricted," ministry spokesman Yang Chang-seok said.

"The government regrets that freedom of press was limited during the inter-Korean reunions."

Pyongyang officials, angered by what they described as "false reports" and provocative and misleading words such as "abduction" and "seizure," threatened to take legal action in accordance with domestic law against the SBS reporter who made the report if he did not leave the country immediately. North Korea contended that South Korean reporters were "deliberately hindering the inter-Korean reunion" for "political purposes".

The SBS reporter left on Thursday morning, and the rest of the press corps followed in the evening, claiming "the principle of free news coverage was broken".

Pyongyang officials blocked broadcasters, MBC and SBS from sending reports via satellite link and seized a video tape from them, returning it a day later.

On Wednesday, Pyongyang officials delayed the scheduled return of 99 South Korean family members and their helpers to the border, virtually holding them hostage until South Korean reporters agreed to leave the country with them.

It added that "the South`s actions are a clear challenge to our good faith and generosity," pointing out that they had allowed the family reunion to go on despite the Korea-U.S. joint military drills that begin today.


(jkwon@heraldm.com)
By Kwon Ji-young


2006.03.25


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