hankyoreh

President Yoon Suk-yeol of South Korea takes part in a summit with President Joe Biden of the US on Nov. 13 in Cambodia. (courtesy of the presidential office)

The office of the South Korean president stirred controversy with its refusal to allow the accompanying combined press corps access to summits with the US and Japan on Sunday in Phnom Penh.

Observers accused the office of “restricting” the activities of media covering key summits that included discussions on major issues such as regional security and the political situation on the Korean Peninsula amid threats of a seventh nuclear test by North Korea.

In a scheduled briefing delivered in the Cambodian capital that morning, presidential office deputy spokesperson Lee Jae-myoung said that South Korea’s summits with Japan and the US would be “taking place under an exclusive coverage format.”

Ordinarily, introductory remarks for summits with foreign heads of state are made available for press pool coverage. Lee’s remarks indicated that the summits Sunday would follow a format where the content would be relayed by a presidential office official present at the meetings.

In cases of “exclusive coverage” with the presidential office, reporters are not granted access to all public parts of the summit but are only provided with edited statements, video footage, and photographs.

The presidential office also omitted a Q&A session with the press that day, citing the schedule for traveling to Bali, where the Group of 20 summit is taking place. Instead, it merely provided a written press release on the content of the summits with Japan and the US.

Considered the key events of President Yoon Suk-yeol’s trip overseas, the two summits essentially took place away from the media’s eye.

In contrast, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met with reporters after the South Korea-Japan summit, providing a 13-minute explanation on the outcomes of his summits with other heads of state just before leaving for Bali.

Some observers speculated that the decision to deny the media access to the summits with the Japanese and US heads of state was based on a request from South Korea to avoid reporting on any gaffes that Yoon might have made.

What appeared to be vulgar remarks made by Yoon at the time of a pledging conference in New York last September ended up being caught on camera by pool reporters who were in attendance. The suggestion is that the presidential office opted for an “exclusive coverage” approach to the summits to avert the possibility of something similar happening again.

The presidential office denied this, saying the decision was based on agreements with the countries in question.

“All summits are based on discussions between two parties, and this can be understood along the same lines,” an official with the presidential office said.

When asked whether there had been requests from the other countries, the same official said, “This was less a matter of one side making a request that the other side accepted, and more something that was based on mutual discussions.”

The presidential office’s choice prompted reactions of disgruntlement, with reporters on the ground describing it as another “restriction” on press coverage activities on the heels of a decision denying reporters with the MBC network seats on the presidential aircraft.

Even as Yoon moved on to Bali that day, the presidential office did not lift its measure excluding MBC from access to the presidential aircraft. The Hankyoreh’s reporters were also scheduled to use commercial aircraft to travel to Bali on Monday.

By Bae Ji-hyun, staff reporter

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