President Moon Jae-in is receiving questions from reporters at a New Year’s press conference held at the Cheongwadae Chunchu Hall in January. yunhap news
The Seoul Foreign Journalists Club (SFCC) expressed regret that last month, the Blue House and the Prime Minister’s Office held a New Year’s press conference and unilaterally selected the attending reporters. SFCC is a gathering of foreign journalists working in Korea.
According to the SFCC on the 3rd, the head of the group, Akiko Horiyama, the head of the Mainichi Shinmun Seoul Bureau, sent a letter to the members on the 25th of last month stating’I will try to improve the government press conference system.’ The SFCC board of directors expressed strong concern over the arbitrary selection of media.
Chairman Horiyama said, “SFCC has established a full system for pen, TV, and camera fields. However, there is a situation where the opinions of SFCC are not sufficiently reflected at press conferences and conferences hosted by the (Korea) government.” He explained.
“In the case of President Moon’s New Year’s press conference, the Office of the Blue House’s overseas press secretary made all decisions about which media to sit in, and there was no prior discussion with the SFCC board. He added that it was repeated at the foreign policy debate.
At the New Year’s press conference in January, the Blue House and the Prime Minister’s Office reduced the invitation to reporters due to the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19) and nominated the invited reporter. For this reason, it was pointed out that the opportunity to organize inquiries between foreign journalists was missed because the’full reporters’ could not be used. Some reporters said, “Only a few reporters who are friendly to the government are still being invited to press conferences.”
In response, the Blue House explained through the media that “we had to comply with the quarantine standards due to Corona 19,” and “it reflects the fact that only a small number of people can enter a small place.”
Chairman Horiyama also told the members, “The Overseas Culture Promotion Agency has promised to consult with the SFCC in advance regarding the operation of the policy discussion meeting in the future.” We decided to cooperate with the operation of this policy debate,” he added.
Reporter Go Seok-hyun [email protected]