'English language media is a messenger to the world'

Hwang Kyong-choon / Korea Times photo by Kim Bo-eun

By Kim Bo-eun

English-language media in Korea have a distinct and critical role to play in Korea, according to a veteran journalist.

“English is a universal language, and therefore English-language media have the mission to introduce Korea to the world,” said Hwang Kyong-choon, former AP Seoul bureau chief and Seoul Foreign Correspondents’ Club President.

He made the remarks in an interview with The Korea Times, Tuesday, a day before the national Newspaper Day.

“The Korea Times has been notable in carrying out this role,” said the 92-year-old journalist, a longtime subscriber and contributor to the newspaper.

Hwang worked for AP’s Seoul bureau for 30 years starting in 1957, serving five years as bureau chief. After that he served as chief of Time Magazine’s Seoul office for five years.

He also worked for The Korea Times for two years when the newspaper was headquartered in Busan during the Korean War (1950-53).

Hwang said he worked during the days when Korea had virtually no freedom of the press and news outlets were subject to strict control.

“We would have Korean Central Intelligence Agency (current National Intelligence Service) officials in our office all the time,” he recalled. “They would instruct us not to publish certain stories and photos.”

However, the foreign press was not subject to so much control, enabling agencies such as AP to cover the Gwangju Uprising on May 18, 1980, a pro-democracy movement in protest of military dictatorship.

A photo taken by an AP photojournalist made the cover of the U.S. weekly news magazine Newsweek, and foreign news agency reporters, including Hwang, were detained for questioning by the agency.

Korea achieved freedom of the press after decades-long democratization movements, but the current Park Geun-hye administration has been criticized for limiting this freedom.

Hwang said it seems the government is attempting to influence the media, especially when it comes to security issues concerning North Korea or diplomacy issues concerning Japan.

Foreign correspondents here also showed concern when Tatsuya Kato, former Seoul bureau chief of Japan’s Sankei Shimbun, was indicted on charges of defaming President Park in a column on the Sewol ferry disaster in 2014. He was later acquitted.

“The government seems to place greater restrictions on the press than countries such as Japan,” Hwang said.

Marking Newspaper Day, Hwang encouraged journalists to revive the “journalistic spirit” and a sense of pride.

“Back in the day when I was a reporter, local daily reporters only earned about a fifth of what those working for foreign news outlets earned. They were subject to strict government control, but still provided information to the foreign press, hoping for stories which needed to get out to be published.”

This was also the spirit with which the Kwanhun Club, an association of journalists established for the betterment of the Korean press, was founded, he said.

Hwang advises journalists to always keep in mind the public. “Journalists essentially exist for the people,” he said.