If you are asked to express South Korea’s media in one word, you can say that it is a master of distortion and manipulation. It is leading the destruction of free democracy in South Korea, acting as a “Red Guard” of the leftist forces represented by the Moon Jae-in regime.
1. The Press labor union under KCTU leads the impeachment of Park Geun-hye.
The South Korean media has steadily been establishing its ‘position’ since the former Kim Dae-jung, Roh Moo-hyun governments. Left-wing trade unions have dominated public broadcasting. Currently, 130 media unions are affiliated under the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU). Most of the broadcasters belong to KCTU, and many newspapers belong to it as well, except for Chosun, Dong-A, and JoongAng.
The members of the union have led the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye in 2016. Regarding her whereabouts during the Ferry Sewol disaster on April 16, the media reported aweful fake news such as: “She performed a shaman rite,” “She had a secret love affair,” or “She had facial surgery when the ship sank.”
The collapse of the Park Geun-hye government was not all that strange in this situation since the news media repeatedly pounded the public with such fake news for more than three months. That’s why the impeachment is called “the rebellion by the press.”
2. After signing a “policy agreement” with Moon Jae-in, the media union took the lead in promoting the regime and destroying conservatives.
On April 27, 2017, just before the birth of the Moon Jae-in regime, then-presidential candidate Moon Jae-in and media union officials signed a policy agreement. In short, they signed a contract to cooperate with each other. After the Moon Jae-in regime was inaugurated, the media union began to praise Moon and Kim Jong-un, the leader of the communist North. The media took the lead in a witch hunt for “draining the swamp” in South Korea. It can be seen as a so-called “Operation Annihilate Conservatism.” If a government agency leaks a suspicious item to the media, the media unilaterally hunts down a witch through public opinion without verification or raising objections.
They dutifully fabricated and exaggerated stories about the sins committed by the conservative governments in the past, such as, “Abuse of soldiers by General Park Chan-ju,” “Abuse of employees by Korean Air owner’s family,” “Martial law review document of the Defense Security Command,” “Surveillance of civilians by the Defense Security Command,” “Illegal use of Special Activity Funds by Park Geun-hye administration, “ and “Supreme Court Chief Justice Yang Seung-tae’s illegal judicial dealings.”
These represent a partial list of stories aimed at “eradicating conservatives.”
As a result, two former presidents, Park Geun-hye and Lee Myung-bak, were arrested, and many people, including the chief justice, the presidential chief of staff, and four NIS chiefs, were imprisoned. Four people, including Lee Jae-soo, commander of the Defense Security Command, chose suicide instead of disgrace. As such, broadcasters and newspapers created a cartel and became the escort of the regime, acting as running dogs for the Moon Jae-in regime.
3. The media contributed to a landslide victory in the general elections by turning a blind eye to “government corruption” and focusing on public relations.
The media deliberately held back on reporting the corruption or illegal activities of the Moon Jae-in regime, and the people did not become aware of what was really going on. A series of influence-peddling scandals involving key figures in the administration have erupted, but the media has not adequately reported them. “Cho Guk scandal,” “Ulsan mayoral election fraud,” “Sillajen stock price manipulation,” “Wooridul Hospital illegal loan scam,” and “Silencing the former Chief Auditor of Financial Supervisory Commission” are such examples.
As a result, Choi Kang-wook, former presidential secretary for discipline, Hwang Un-ha, former head of the Ulsan Metropolitan Police Agency, and Han Byung-do, former senior secretary for political affairs, all of whom are under investigation in connection with the “Cho Guk scandal” and the “Ulsan Mayoral election fraud,” ran for the National Assembly and won the election.
4. Suspicions of rigged elections are treated as a conspiracy theory.
Despite unfavorable factors such as China’s coronavirus crisis, influence-peddling and economic difficulties, the ruling Democratic Party won a landslide victory in the 21st general elections. Many experts are raising suspicions about the results of the general election, but the media in the system do not report them properly and dismiss them as “conspiracy.”
Although right-leaning TV channels such as TV Chosun and Channel A have been reporting in a limited fashion, these have recently been under pressure to suspend reauthorization, saying there are problems with the “fairness” of their journalistic reporting. Independent media, including YouTubers, is reporting facts and truths, but these are also suffering from demonetizing advertisement and accusations of defamation.
South Korea is now facing a systemic crisis. Destruction of free democracy and free-market economy is happening in many areas of the government. There are many concerns that the system will change to socialism, but most people do not recognize it properly and support the Moon Jae-in regime. All of these are the result of distortions, manipulations, and incitement reports by media outlets. The key to resolving the Korean crisis is to correct this situation with the media, but it is a serious challenge because there are not many people who understand it properly.
Seong Chang-kyeongis a politician in South Korea and former professor andChief of Press Production Bureau of Korean Broadcasting System (KBS)
