Your Excellency,
The Committee to Protect Journalists
(CPJ) is deeply alarmed by the arrest of Son Chung Mu¸ the
publisher of Inside the World magazine, on charges of
criminal defamation growing out of last year's presidential
campaign.
Son was arrested by agents of the Seoul
Public Prosecutor's office early on the morning of June 1 at his
home in Seoul, according to family members. Prosecutors have
charged Son with criminal defamation and of having received money
from former KCIA chief Kwon Young Hae to slander then-presidential
candidate Kim Dae Jung during the 1997 campaign. Son was also
charged with related "crimes against reputation" in February by
the public prosecutor's office but was not arrested at that
time.
The charges stem from a series of
complaints brought by the National Congress for a New Politics
(NCNP), your excellency's political party, in the aftermath of
your victory in the presidential election of December 1997. In
addition to the charges against Son, similar cases have been filed
against two other journalists, Chon Bong Jae, publisher of World
Korea magazine; and Ham Yun Shik, publisher of One Way
magazine.
As a non-partisan organization that
defends press freedom around the world, CPJ believes strongly that
no journalist should be jailed as a result of what he or she
writes. Libel is not considered a criminal offense in most
democratic countries and its use has a chilling effect on press
freedom. CPJ believes that sufficient remedies exist in civil law
to redress legitimate claims of libel or defamation.
Therefore, we strongly urge your
excellency to examine closely the matter of Son Chung Mu and to
consider releasing him at the earliest possible time. Given your
impending visit to the United States this week, a gesture of
leniency in the case of Son would be timely and well-received
internationally.
We further urge your excellency to put in
motion reforms of South Korea's existing harsh criminal defamation
laws to ensure that journalists are protected from imprisonment in
the future. Given the admirable strides South Korea has made in
the last decade toward becoming a vibrant democracy, this is a
good time to consider removing criminal defamation from the legal
code.
We appreciate your attention and await
your response.
Yours sincerely,
William A. Orme, Jr.
Executive Director
