By Lee Hyo-sik
Staff Reporter

Wall Street Journal (WSJ) Seoul correspondent Evan Ramstad said Wednesday that he regrets swearing at a senior government official after a press conference two days ago, saying he was not proud of his behavior.

But concerning his question directed to Strategy and Finance Minister Yoon Jeung-hyun about Korea's late night entertainment culture, including room salons, Ramstad said on a local radio program that he was just doing his job as a reporter, stressing he raised a difficult but necessary issue that most of his fellow reporters were hesitant to talk about.

In response, Kim Young-min, the spokesman for foreign media at the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, said he will appear on the same program Thursday to rebut the reporter's remarks, saying he will tell the public exactly what happened and how inappropriate the reporter's behavior was.

Ramstad admitted that he verbally insulted ministry spokesman Park Cheol-kyu, using the 'F' word after the session Monday, saying he was not proud of what he did and felt regret for his action.

Park and Ramstad reportedly had an argument over whether the latter's questions were appropriate or not.

Ramstad asked Yoon whether it was difficult for Korean women to be hired as executives at major business groups because male executives enjoy room salons and would not be able to visit them if their colleagues were women. He also asked whether ministry officials were treated to entertainment at room salons by businessmen.

The reporter also said it was inappropriate for him to swear at spokesperson Kim on the phone last August. But he defended his act, saying a Korean reporter who did not work at the WSJ was attacked by ministry PR personnel for a story that appeared in the journal. Ramstad said he and the reporter were extremely angry at the time.

As for his questions about room salons, drinking establishments where men partner with hostesses who serve drinks, Ramstad said he first wanted to ask Yoon about the interest rate, the yuan and other economic issues. But other reporters had already asked those questions.

Assuming no one would ask about the nation's late night entertainment culture and gender inequality, which had earlier been covered by the Washington Post and the New York Times, he asked Yoon the controversial questions.

The reporter said many people here do not want to talk about room salons and do not want to see foreign reporters touch on the issue, stressing nobody should feel reluctant to discuss the matter. Ramstad said he thinks the room salon culture has something to do with Korean women's low level of economic participation.

In response, minister spokesperson Kim said the reporter did not tell the whole truth.

"He insists that his questions were appropriate but he is absolutely wrong. The reporter gravely defamed finance ministry officials by assuming that we are treated to room salons by businessmen. He also did not tell the truth about exactly what happened last August either. I will refute his remarks point by point and clarify the ministry's stance," Kim told The Korea Times.

On Tuesday, the finance ministry stopped providing press releases to the Wall Street Journal and sent a letter to the newspaper's headquarters in New York over the behavior of its Seoul correspondent.

leehs@koreatimes.co.kr



WSJ 기자 `부끄럽다’

지난 8일 외신 기자간담회에서 부적절한 질문과 욕설 파문을 일으킨 월스트리트저널 (WSJ)의 에반 람스타드 기자가 “욕설에 대해서는 부끄럽지만, 룸살롱 질문은 누군가는 해야했던 것”이라는 입장을 고수했다.

람스타드는 10일 MBC 라디오 ‘손석희의 시선집중’과의 인터뷰에서 “욕설을 한 것은 사실이며, 그에 대해 부끄러워하고 있다”고 말했다. 당시 람스타드는 기자간담회 직후 대변인이 ‘장관에게 룸살롱 관련 질문을 한 것은 부적절했다’고 지적하자 차마 입에 담기 힘든 욕설을 한 것으로 알려졌다.

문제의 발단이 된 람스타드의 질문은 “한국 여성의 사회 참여율이 저조한 것은 룸살롱 등 잘못된 직장 회식 문화 때문 아닌가”라는 것이었다. 이 같은 질문을 한 까닭을 묻자 람스타드는 “내가 사전에 질문하고 싶었던 금리에 관한 문제나 또는 중국의 위안화에 관련된 문제는 이미 다른 기자들이 질문을 한 상태였다”며 “뉴욕타임스가 한국의 유흥문화에 대해서도 기사를 썼었다. 나는 이 문제에 대해서 다른 기자들은 질문하지 않을 것으로 생각돼 질문을 하게 된 것”이라고 해명했다.

람스타드는 이어 “많은 사람이 여기(룸살롱)에 대해 말하고 싶지 않을 것이고, 외신기자가 이와 같은 질문을 하는 것을 달가워하지 않을 것”이라며 “그렇다고 우리가 이 문제에 대해 이야기해서는 안 된다고 생각하지 않는다”고 말했다.

이에 대해 재정부 김영민 외신대변인은 11일 같은 프로그램에 출연해 람스타드 기자의 주장을 반박할 것이라고 밝혔다.