Compensation Sought for Forced Media Mergers in 1980

Lee Young-jo,
president of Truth and Reconciliation Commission

By Lee Tae-hoon
Staff Reporter

A state fact-finding panel has recommended the government apologize and compensate victims of the forced media mergers in 1980 under the authoritarian Chun Doo-hwan administration.

The Chun regime, which took power in a military coup in 1979, infringed upon press freedom by coercing the mergers in its push to control the media.

"The government needs to recognize its responsibility and apologize to the victims of the incident," said Lee Young-jo, president of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, in a news conference at its office in Seoul, Thursday.

"Also, the honor of the victims should be restored and appropriate measures must be taken to provide compensation for damages."

In November 1980, 28 newspapers, 29 broadcasters and seven news wire services saw their numbers fall to 14, three and one. Some 170 periodicals were shut down and more than 1,000 media workers lost their jobs.

The Seoul Economic Daily, a sister paper of The Korea Times and the Hankook Ilbo, was just one publication that fell victim to the forced mergers.

The paper was widely regarded as one of Korea's two most influential economic dailies among international research institutes and worth at least 15 billion won ($13.3 million) at the time. It was forcibly shut down on Nov. 25, 1980, without any financial compensation. The daily resumed publication in August 1988.

The commission said in its report that media company owners were summoned to the offices of the Defense Security Command (DSC) and forced to sign statements giving up their businesses.

"Military officers carried pistols and bayonets to threaten and force them to present such statements," the report said.

Chang Kang-jae, CEO of the Hankook Ilbo, was also summoned to the DSC upon his protest against the forced closure.

The commission said military authorities led by Chun began discussions on how to make media outlets submissive in January 1980, shortly after the coup on Dec. 12, 1979.

By March, the authorities had set forth plans to control and regulate any media outlet they saw as a potential obstacle to their seizure of power, the report said.

Chun assumed control after former President Park Chung-hee was assassinated by one of his cronies, Kim Jae-kyu, the nation's spy chief, on Oct. 26, 1979. Chun was officially sworn into office in September 1980.

"Based on intelligence data and information obtained through DSC agents, the military authorities classified 30 percent of media workers as dissidents and forced media companies to dismiss them," the report said.

Moreover, the military regime continued to suppress the laid-off journalists by restricting their re-employment and, in some cases, by threatening their lives, according to the report.

Six petitions were filed with the commission to investigate the case, one of the darkest chapters in modern Korean history, and the investigation began in 2007.

The commission analyzed about 45,000 pages of government documents between November 2007 and December 2009. It also questioned 152 people, including laid-off journalists and the Chun regime's intelligence officials who were involved in the press restructuring.

leeth@koreatimes.co.kr

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