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| President Yoon Suk-yeol answers reporters' questions after arriving at the presidential office in Yongsan District, Seoul, Nov. 10. Korea Times photo by Seo Jae-hoon |
By Nam Hyun-woo
The presidential office on Sunday set up a wooden wall in the lobby area where President Yoon Suk-yeol usually answers reporters' questions on his way to work.
The administration explained that the wall was set up for security reasons. But the move is widely viewed as a reaction to a recent incident where an MBC reporter shouted a question at the president as he walked away over his comments that the broadcaster harmed national interests by allegedly airing fake news. The incident led to a verbal altercation between the journalist and the presidential secretary for public relations planning.
Yoon's daily interview session, or door-stepping, takes place at an open space at the lobby of the presidential office, which is usually off limits except when reporters are allowed to wait there to ask the president questions. The wall was set up between the off-limits space and the areas open to reporters.
The wall has a small entrance which allows reporters to enter inside the door-stepping area. However, it has now become impossible to view the president from behind the wall.
"The lobby area of the presidential office is fully open to reporters, and there have been opinions that this is inappropriate because the president needs a closed-door option for various purposes including diplomacy," an official at the presidential office said.
"It is not about blocking one side from the other. Rather, we are establishing the wall for security purposes."
The impromptu question-and-answer sessions have been one of the Yoon administration's signature features, following the president's promise during his election campaign to be more accessible to the public. Since his inauguration in May, Yoon has been steadily taking questions from journalists despite various controversies, and his office has touted this as one of the features that sets it apart from previous administrations.
When asked about the decision to set up the wall ― in relation to Friday's quarrel between the presidential secretary for public relations planning and the MBC reporter ― the official said he does not think the wall is "directly related to the incident," but later added that "the presidential office sees the quarrel as a serious incident."
The incident took place after Yoon defended his decision to ban MBC from boarding the presidential jet during his recent trip to Southeast Asia, citing the broadcaster's past reports on the leader, which the presidential office claimed were malicious and inaccurate.
As Yoon walked away from members of the press, the MBC reporter called out to him, "What did MBC do maliciously?" The reporter then got into a heated argument with the secretary who said it is inappropriate to yell at the president.
The presidential office added that it also decided to set up the wall after some cameramen filmed through the open space Yoon receiving foreign guests on Nov. 2. The cameramen apparently did not receive authorization to film that event.
Although the presidential office said it does not intend to stop the door-stepping sessions, it did not rule out the possibility of more changes in the process of the president's daily interview sessions with reporters.
"Nothing has been fixed about how we will handle this situation (the quarrel between the presidential secretary and the MBC reporter) and the door-stepping," the official said.
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