President Yoon’s Spokesperson Kim Soo-kyung Infringes on Press Freedom by ‘Excessive Expression’ at ‘Drinking Party’
President Yoon Seok-yeol's spokesperson Kim Soo-kyung told reporters, "The expression 'drinking party' is excessive," and criticized the media report as 'excessive expression' and 'misinformation at a dinner party', infringing on the right to judgment on expression, which is the core of freedom of the press. did.
Spokesperson Kim said, "It was not a drinking party, but a dinner party. Because we finished work at a much later time than was already reported, I understand that everyone was unable to eat, so they had dinner." During his trip, he used indirect confirmation that he was 'aware of' the incident, infringing on the 'direct confirmation' of the news coverage as 'excessive'.
On the 18th, when reporters at the President's Office asked, "Please explain the facts and the purpose of President Yoon Seok-yeol's drinking party with five chaebol heads at a Korean restaurant in Paris, France on November 24," Spokesperson Kim responded, "After dinner, “I think it’s a bit excessive to describe it as a drinking party,” he said, announcing the spokesperson’s “judgment” as a higher value than the reporter’s reporting and criticizing the results of the coverage.
In its first report on the incident on the 15th, ‘Hankyoreh 21’ clearly stated that President Yoon and conglomerate chairman’s dinner with soju and beer started at ‘around 8 p.m.’
‘OhmyNews’ reported on the 18th that President Yoon and the heads of conglomerates attended the National Day reception held at the Bronniard Palace by the Korean Embassy in France before moving to a Korean restaurant in Paris.
President's spokesperson Kim, who was a former journalist, did not add factual confirmation after the initial report, but instead criticized the reporter's direct reporting as 'excessive in expressions' from the position of indirect confirmation, saying, 'I know you had dinner.' This constitutes a violation of press freedom.
Spokesperson Kim told reporters on this day that the request for confirmation was 'misreporting of a drinking party' without further explaining whether the dinner schedule on the President's official tour schedule was prepared in advance and how the prepared menu and actual orders were changed. It looks like a one-sided briefing.
In the presidential schedule, a reception officially means a dinner, and on this day, the National Day reception in Paris was announced in advance on the official schedule at the Bronniard Palace in the evening, and since the presidents of conglomerates were official attendees and food and drinks were provided following the official toast, President Yoon's It was marked as the official dinner schedule.
If the president invites chaebol chairmen to an unannounced dinner party and drinks bomb liquor for dinner, reporters have the authority to report on it, judging it to be a "drinking party."