Controversies about Articles in Revised Periodical Publication Bill

27 policy makers including Rep. Shim Jae-Kwon (NMDP) and Rep. Lee Boo-Young (GNP) submitted a revised bill to the National Assembly that requires the establishment of the Editorial Committee in press companies and the report of management records to the government.

The revised bill includes such articles as the establishment of the Editorial Committee with participation from both management and labor, the obligation for the enactment and announcement of editorial code, and the duty to report the management records, including the amount of issues, the number of paid issues, financial statement, and business report, to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

In addition, the revised bill will strengthen the restrictions to prevent the damages by the press report. Appeals for counterarguments and corrections must go through the review of the Press Arbitration Commission, and when an involved press company does not accept the arbitration, the case will be automatically transferred to the Court.

However, the revised bill does not include restrictions on the portion of shares owned by large shareholders, which has been criticized as violating the Constitution.

With regard to the revised bill, GNP policy makers and scholars pointed out, "The extreme restrictions in the revised bill might allow [the government] intervene in the editorial rights or management of the press firms."

Prof. Cho Yong-Joong (chaired professor of Korea University) criticized that "After the tax probe last year, the press tax probe is likely to be carried out regularly from now on. The legislation of the reports about the annual amount of total issues, the number of paid issues, advertisement charges, and business report to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in addition to the regular tax probe is the same idea as the Ministry of Public Information during the 5th Republic."

Rep. Shim Kyu-Chul (GNP) remarked that "The unilateral regulation of the independence of the editorial rights and the reports of the management record to the government will be understood as the government`s interference with the freedom of the press. I will stand against the bill during the process of deliberation."

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