Free the journalist!! S. Korea urges ‘calm reaction’ to Sankei reporter indictment 14 th October 2014 The Japan Times South Korea’s Foreign Ministry called Tuesday on Japan to react calmly to the indictment of the former Seoul bureau chief of the Sankei Shimbun for defaming President Park Geun-hye. The article repeated allegations widely aired in South Korea about Park’s whereabouts on the day of the deadly ferry disaster in April. “It is not an issue between the governments of South Korea and Japan, but a matter of law enforcement,” ministry spokesman Noh Kwang-il told a press briefing. “Looking at the reaction by some sectors of Japanese society, calm reaction is needed,” he said. His remarks came in response to a question about the government’s attitude toward Wednesday’s indictment by prosecutors of Tatsuya Kato, 48, who was the Sankei’s Seoul bureau chief when he filed the article. The newspaper officially transferred Kato to a new Tokyo-based position last week, although he is prevented from leaving South Korea. Noh also called the remarks of some Japanese officials “inappropriate,” an apparent reference to recent comments by Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga. Last Thursday, Kishida called the indictment “very regrettable,” while Suga said, “Law enforcement should be used cautiously when it involves freedom of the press, something that needs to be respected most in a democracy.” In the article, published online Aug. 3, Kato suggested Park was absent from her office for a seven-hour period on April 16, the day of the ferry sinking that left more than 300 people dead. He alleged that she may have been on a secret rendezvous with a recently divorced former aide. He cited hearsay among stockbrokers and quoted from the Chosun Ilbo, a major South Korean newspaper that first reported the rumor but has not been charged. A conservative South Korean citizens’ group filed a defamation suit against the Sankei on Aug. 9 over the article, prompting the prosecutors to open an investigation.
Posted on: Tue, 14 Oct 2014 22:57:47 +0000
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