The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists, will send a press freedom mission to South Korea from 5-8 September 2001. The decision to send a high-level delegation to Seoul follows the arrest of three newspaper owners/publishers on 17 August.

Bang Sang-Hoon, president of South Korea’s largest daily, the Chosun Ilbo, Kim Byung-Kwan of the Dong-A Ilbo and Cho Hee-Joon of the Kookmin Ilbo were arrested by the authorities on charges of tax evasion and embezzlement. They are currently being held without bail pending trial. In addition, state prosecutors are collecting new evidence to file additional criminal charges against the three and plan to indict as many as 15 media executives this week.

The arrests come six weeks after tax authorities imposed a record US$ 390 million in fines against 23 Seoul-based media outlets following an unprecedented four-month tax probe. IPI believes the media tax probe was only the prelude to a campaign to muzzle the independent press in South Korea under the guise of “press reform.” Some government ministers and members of the ruling Millennium Democratic Party have even spoken of the need to “wage a war against the press.”

The IPI delegation is comprised of:
Mr. Johann P. Fritz, Director of IPI, Vienna
Mr. Bruce Brugmann, Editor/Publisher, San Francisco Bay Guardian, and Board Member of the IPI American Committee
Mr. Nils Oy, Secretary-General of the Association of Editors in Norway, and Member of the Norwegian IPI Committee

Joining the delegation is Mr. Roger Parkinson, Chairman of The Globe and Mail, Canada, and President of the Paris-based World Association of Newspapers (WAN).

The IPI delegation will meet with Minister and Government Spokesman Oh Hong-Keun of the Government Information Service, as well as with other members of the government, the opposition Grand National Party, and the special investigative committee that has been convened by the National Assembly. They also hope to meet with President Kim Dae-Jung and visit the imprisoned newspaper executives. The delegation will hold a press conference in Seoul on 6 September in the afternoon (local time).