A decision by South Korean prosecutors to seek jail time for a Japanese journalist accused of defaming the South Korean president risks chilling media coverage of political figures, the International Press Institute (IPI) said today. Prosecutors announced on Monday that they would request an 18-month prison sentence for Tatsuya Kato, former Seoul bureau chief of […]

The International Press Institute (IPI) today welcomed news that South Korea has lifted an order preventing a Japanese journalist who faces charges for allegedly defaming South Korea’s president from leaving the country. Local media said the travel ban on former Sankei Shimbun Seoul Bureau Chief Tatsuya Kato was lifted based on “humanitarian consideration”, given the ailing […]

The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in over 120 countries, welcomes President Lee Myung-bak’s recently-voiced promise to embrace a “press-friendly policy”, and invites him to go further by implementing much-needed legal reforms in South Korea. According to information before IPI, since its inauguration in February 2008, […]

The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors, leading journalists and media executives in 120 countries, sent an open letter today to the South Korean President, Roh Moo-hyun, calling on him to refuse to sign into law two media bills. Based on IPI’s analyses, if passed, the two bills, respectively called the “Act […]