Amid press conferences followed by President Moon Jae-in and Prime Minister Jeong Sye-gyun to mark the new year, the Seoul Foregn Correspondents’ Club (SFCC) expressed dissatisfaction with some of the press conference procedures. In the process of attending only the minimum media due to Corona 19, the participants were decided without consulting with SFCC.
SFCC President Akiko Horiyama (Director of the Seoul Bureau of the Mainichi Shimbun of Japan) sent a message to members on the 25th of last month, saying, “At press conferences and conferences hosted by the government, the opinions of SFCC are not sufficiently reflected.” Because I had your inquiries, I would like to explain the process.” It is about President Moon Jae-in’s New Year’s press conference on the 18th and Prime Minister Chung Sye-gyun’s foreign policy discussion on the 27th.
Previously, President Moon’s New Year’s press conference was given an opportunity to ask questions through an online messenger for 20 people in the Blue House briefing room, 100 people in the online video conferencing system, both internal and external. In the case of the domestic media, each reporter group has decided on the number of participants in the field and video. President Horiyama said, “There were 5 foreign reporters who attended the field and 20 foreign reporters who could ask questions through online attendance, and the rest were allowed only text questions. It was decided by the Office of the Blue House’s overseas press secretary on which seats and which media would sit, and nothing was discussed with the SFCC board in advance.”
“The SFCC Board of Directors can understand the number of people limiting in consideration of the special circumstances caused by the coronavirus quarantine, but it protested that the participants decided without reflecting the SFCC’s pen pool system at all.” “TV and STILL (photo) Regarding the coverage, we asked for an improvement in the fact that there was no full coverage of foreign media.” As a result, he explained, “The change in the method of selecting the attendees for the press conference was rejected, but the TV·STILL pool coverage was additionally reflected.”
Regarding Prime Minister Chung Sye-gyun’s foreign policy debate held on the 27th, “The field coverage was limited to 10 people, and the rest was replaced by online coverage. Even at this time, the SFCC board of directors could not be involved in the decision of the on-site reporter. “The SFCC board of directors expressed strong concern about the situation in which the government arbitrarily selects media continuously at press conferences and conferences by the Moon Jae-in government. As a result, the Overseas Culture Promotion Agency promised to consult with SFCC in advance regarding the operation of the policy discussion meeting in the future.”
Chairman Horiyama said, “As SFCC chairman, I have a sense of crisis that SFCC’s opinions were not sufficiently reflected during the operation of the two press conferences above.” However, he said, “It was accepted as progress that we received an appointment to discuss with the SFCC in advance after the addition of TV·STILL foreign media coverage at the presidential press conference and after the Prime Minister’s debate, we decided to cooperate with the operation of this policy debate.” “It is expected that trial and error will continue in the future. However, in a situation where coverage opportunities are limited due to limited seating, we will negotiate with the government with more tension to reflect the fair system within SFCC such as pool system and lottery.”
Founded in 1956, the SFCC is working to protect the rights and interests of foreign journalists residing in Korea, strengthen mutual ties, and promote exchanges with Korean journalists, the government, and public relations officials. About 300 reporters are affiliated with SFCC, and Japanese media account for the highest proportion in the country. Many of the meetings and press conferences with foreign reporters, such as the heads of major government agencies and political parties, are in consultation with the SFCC.
It is interpreted that this message from Chairman Horiyama appears to be intended to increase the influence of SFCC. A foreign reporter told Media Today, “I heard a lot of stories that SFCC’s influence has declined compared to 20 to 30 years ago. Some pointed out that it pays monthly membership fees, but it is not very helpful for the coverage,” he said. “I feel like I want to regain the role of SFCC after Chairman Horiyama took office.” Some people believe that the first report on the satisfaction level of foreign journalists in Seoul since the establishment of the SFCC in November of last year was announced.
Some responded that the Moon Jae-in administration’s response to foreign media was disappointing. Jae-han Um, the head of the’Sangyo Times’ Seoul branch, who served as the SFCC chairman in the days of President Park Geun-hye, said, “It’s better than the previous government gathering questions in advance. It was also pointed out that foreign media, who were mainly looking at the face or getting an opportunity to ask questions, were concentrated in the Anglo-American region at the press conference. “In the days of President Lee Myung-bak, the Blue House Overseas Public Relations Secretary Son Ji-ae, who was former CNN bureau chief, came to the press center every two weeks to communicate with foreign media. Now, even if the Japanese media wants to ask questions about the issues of Korea and Japan, there is not much opportunity,” he said. “Press diplomacy is also important at the level of the government, but now it is very short.”
Meanwhile, some media reported on the SFCC statement on the 3rd with the intention that the Blue House selected and called only reporters friendly to the government. In response, the Blue House said, “Some reports of’inviting government-friendly foreign reporters at the New Year’s press conference’ are not at all true.” The Blue House said, “Considering the inevitable limitation of the number of participants due to Corona 19, we inevitably requested to attend media companies by continent and country, and some media companies did not attend due to individual circumstances. Reports that media companies were selected to avoid is not true.”
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