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There are many problems with today’s Korea. The government, using the National Security Law as rationale, tramples on the human rights of Koreans. At the same time, the major media outlets are not independent, and do not objectively report on the actions of the government.
For several months now, the NCCK has been organizing a committee to raise this situation and think of ways to reform the law and the media-government relationship. The NCCK began this with a realization of the prophetic responsibility of the Christian community to raise this issue for the health of the society.
A committee called the Communication Committee has been brought together. About 30 people representing communication professors, human rights lawyers, independent media people, as well as Church representatives specializing in this topic came together on March 26 for the first discussion of the issue of freedom of speech and the press.
There were a lot of stories of excesses by the government trying to muzzle independent criticism of their policies. For instance a university student holding a one-person demonstration denouncing the government was seized by the police. An political caricaturist was asked to ‘correct’ his images. The owner of Media Today who asked pointed questions about the 7 hours around the Sewol sinking, was faced with government investigations.
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