South Korea

NOVEMBER 15, 2005
Posted: December 2, 2005

New Tang Dynasty TV
HARASSED

Chang Sik Lee and Choi Seon Hee, reporters for New Tang Dynasty TV station, a New York-based independent Chinese television station, were banned from the Asia-Pacific Economic Forum (APEC) meeting in Busan, South Korea, according to news reports. Organizers said the reporters had broken rules for the conference.

Overview
by Abi Wright

Threats to press freedom spiked throughout Asia in 2004, even as the news media claimed significant accomplishments. Across the region, 2004 was an election year, with citizens casting ballots in nations such as Afghanistan, whose landmark vote was peaceful and orderly, and India, where more than 370 million went to the polls. Informing voters and guarding against abuses, the press was credited with playing key roles in these and other elections.

North Korea

While foreign analysts kept guessing at the state of nuclear development in North Korea, one thing remained certain in 2004: There is no free press in the country, only government outlets that voice the pronouncements of Kim Jong Il's authoritarian regime.

South Korea

Innovative news coverage on the Internet added fresh viewpoints to the South Korean media, but the ruling Uri Party's proposal for newspaper reform caused concern in 2004.

The active and varied media, while politically divided, avidly covered political scandals, including the messy impeachment of President Roh Moo Hyun in March. While local television news stations reported scuffles in the National Assembly in which legislators threw punches—and shoes—at each other, a legion of "citizen reporters" recruited by the upstart Internet news site OhmyNews.com covered tense demonstrations against the impeachment. Meanwhile, the country's three largest newspapers—the conservative dailies Dong-A Ilbo, JoongAng Ilbo, and Chosun Ilbo—kept up a steady stream of editorial vitriol against the president.