Hong Seok-hyun (photo), former chairman of the JoongAng Daily and JTBC personally made a statement claiming that the president pressured him to replace the JTBC anchor, Sohn Suk-hee, stirring controversy.
In a video titled, “The Facts about Outside Pressure on JTBC: Now We Can Talk,” posted on YouTube on April 16, Hong said, “The president (former President Park) coerced me twice.” “After the report on the tablet, the government weakened and there was no direct pressure, but we were condemned by the conservatives who argued that our coverage of the tablet PC was fabricated. What I can say, though, is that I was pressured specifically by outside figures on five to six occasions, and among them twice by the president,” Hong continued. In other words, Hong was pressured by former President Park before late October when JTBC released the report on Choi Soon-sil’s tablet. Eyes are also on why Hong released this information, which is bound to send ripples through our society, at this time, months later.
In the video, Hong said, “As a person managing a media outlet, it is true that I felt threatened while suffering hardships due to my personal involvement in politics. But my pride would not forgive me if I fell to such external coercion and replaced my anchor, and I was able to stand up to the pressure because I thought it just wasn‘t possible in the 21st century,” implying that what the former president demanded was for him to replace his anchor.
There were several circumstantial evidence that suggested that Cheong Wa Dae pressured media outlets that released reports critical of the government while Park was in office. However, this is the first time that the head of a media company stated that former President Park personally pressured a certain media outlet.
The former president of Segye Ilbo Cho Han-gyu had referred to his own dismissal and said it was because “Cheong Wa Dae pressured the foundation after the report on the Chung Yoon-hoi documents,” but the Constitutional Court determined that the evidence was lacking to confirm that former President Park was directly involved. There had been suspicions that JTBC also suffered pressure from Cheong Wa Dae. Last October, Choi Min-hee, a former lawmaker of the Minjoo Party of Korea said in a podcast, “Cheong Wa Dae found out that JTBC had obtained the tablet PC two days before they were to announce the administrative policies (on constitutional amendments) and frantically tried to stop the report. Word has it that they threatened to conduct a tax investigation, but that Sohn persisted.”
Hong did not release the exact time and specific details of the pressure from the president. However, this day Media Today reported that an executive of the JoongAng Media Network said, “Around February 2016, former President Park met privately with Lee Jae-yong, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics, and half of the conversation this day was about replacing Sohn Suk-hee.” According to Media Today, this executive said, “When Lee Jae-yong told the president that Hong Seok-hyun would never listen and expressed his unwillingness, Park Geun-hye told Lee to terminate the advertising contracts (Samsung).” A representative of JoongAng Media Network said, “We have no knowledge of the facts concerning external pressure except for what former Chairman Hong shared in the video. We have no other position to state.”