In recent weeks, growing numbers of journalists in South Korea have learned that authorities have accessed their phone records. At least 120 journalists from 22 different media organizations, including several foreign media outlets, have had their phone data accessed by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials (CIO). Such mass data collection – for which […]

The IPI global network today expressed serious concern over a bill in South Korea that would raise punishments for media outlets sued for publishing “fake news”. South Korea’s governing Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) has introduced an amendment to the Media Arbitration Act that lawmakers claim is intended to combat the spread of false information. […]

The International Press Institute (IPI), a global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists, today criticised the South Korean government for excluding Kim Myung-sung, a reporter of the Chosun Ilbo, from the pool of journalists assigned to cover the High-Level meeting at the border village of Panmunjom. According to information received by, the government […]

Former International Press Institute (IPI) Executive Board member So-Whan Hyon, a previous head of South Korea’s Yonhap national news agency and a tireless defender of press freedom in his home country and abroad, died on Saturday, July 28, 2018. He was 80. Hyon was elected president and CEO of Yonhap in 1991, serving for six […]