Constraint on press freedom

KT&G must withdraw seizure on reporter's salary

Journalists are reacting furiously to a local court's approval of a provisional seizure of the salary of a newspaper reporter requested by KT&G, a leading tobacco company.

Last month, the Seoul Central District Court granted KT&G's request for a provisional seizure of the salary of Kang Jin-gu, a reporter at the Kyunghyang Shinmun. The decision came after Kyunghyang on Feb. 26 carried an article raising suspicions that KT&G had pressed for a merger between its affiliate KT&G Life Science and Yungjin Pharm, although it had known that a new drug developed by KT&G Life Science was toxic.

Two days later, the tobacco company filed a 200 million won ($163,000) damages suit against the newspaper, its managing editor and Kang. on the same day, KT&G made a request for the salary seizure targeting only Kang and the court accepted the request. Now half of the reporter's monthly salary will be garnished by KT&G until the total seized amount reaches 200 million won.

As journalists' organizations have condemned the move as an attempt to control journalists, KT&G said it exercised “the minimum right to defend itself within legal boundaries to defy unilateral and unfair reporting.” Admittedly, any entity is entitled to ask for corrections and seek appropriate compensation if a news article is deemed wrong. But KT&G has gone too far in seizing the salary of a reporter even before the article in question has been judged to be false. one cannot help but worry that this may set a bad precedent that intimidates reporting on public issues.

What's most incomprehensible is that KT&G asked the court to seize only the reporter's salary. This gives the impression that the company is retaliating against a reporter who wrote a critical article, causing the Journalists Association of Korea to call the move “a new means to attempt to muzzle the press.” By all accounts, KT&G's seizure of the reporter's wages seems extreme. KT&G should withdraw its seizure demand immediately.