By Kang Hyun-kyung, Yoon Won-sup
Staff Reporters
The incoming administration plans to abolish the Government Information Agency (GIA), revive pressrooms at government offices and downsize the Prime Minister's Office.
The plan will be incorporated when the transition team finalizes the reorganization of government agencies, according to Lee Dong-kwan, spokesman of the transition team, Thursday.
He said scrapping the GIA and reviving pressrooms were campaign pledges of the President-elect.
Cheong Wa Dae, however, made it clear that the current media policy will remain intact until President Roh Moo-hyun steps down on Feb. 25, saying history will determine whether it was good or not in the long run.
Rep. Kim Hyong-o of the Grand National Party (GNP) said the era of a regulatory press policy will be removed by the next administration.
``The incoming administration will respect the freedom of the press and the people's right of access to information, Kim, vice chairman of the transition committee, said.
Lee pledged to dissolve the GIA and restore the government pressrooms during his campaign.
``The agency has served as a propaganda unit for the incumbent head of state and stifled the freedom of the press by shutting down the pressrooms at ministries,'' he said during the campaign.
The information agency will be disbanded and the jurisdiction of press affairs will be transferred to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and other relevant agencies.
But GIA officials defended the current media policy which they contend brought about meaningful changes in government-media relations.
The core elements of Roh's media policy, which began to be implemented last year, were to make it more difficult for journalists to have one-on-one interviews with government officials, to shut down pressrooms at ministries, and to create three joint pressrooms for press briefings.
The agency took the lead in closing the pressrooms at 11 ministries and agencies in mid-October and told reporters and media people to move to a newly built pressroom in the Central Government Complex.
The plan saw a backlash from journalists and opposition parties.
Journalists protested the plan, claiming that the government's repressive measure infringed upon the freedom of the press as well as the right of access to information.
The transition team also made it clear it would downsize the Office of the Prime Minister and downgrade its role and status.
The plan came out following its conclusion that the office is inefficiently bulky and needs streamlining.
The prime minister's relations with the Cabinet will be also adjusted by transferring some of the authority of the premier to the President or other Cabinet ministers.
Chin Soo-hee, head of the committee's political affairs sub-panel, also said, ``We need to reconsider the function and role of sub organizations of the Prime Minister's Office such as the Office for Government Policy Coordination.''
In particular, the transition team will try to restore the Prime Minister's Office to its status before the presidency of Kim Dae-jung (1998-2002) when then Prime Minister Kim Jong-pil firmly remained No. 2 in the government.
Following the alliance of the two Kims, the office expanded, and the expansion continued under the Roh administration as Roh transferred some power to the premier.
Under the draft plan, offices of civil and protocol affairs will likely be removed. The head of the Office for Government Policy Coordination, which was promoted to minister level in 1998, will likely be downgraded to vice minister level, according to the plan.
The transition team is also considering abolishing 53 committees that the prime minister heads since the team considers most of them ineffective.
Some taskforces such as ones dealing with history and reconciliation, the establishment of a park in Yongsan, and lotteries will be also axed.