[930 MBC News]
◀ Anchor ▶
The legal team of former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, who is being investigated for the December 3 rebellion, announced they would hold a press conference today.
However, some media outlets, including MBC, were restricted from attending, with the team claiming they “report inaccurately.”
Reporter Gu Nayoung has more.
◀ Report ▶
The legal team representing Kim Yong-hyun, a central figure in the December 3 rebellion, announced a press conference for this morning.
Attendance was restricted.
The notice stated, “Invited journalists are limited to those in this group chat,” excluding other media and journalists from attending.
After being appointed, Kim’s legal team set up a group chat on KakaoTalk for media interactions.
Currently, about 70 journalists are reportedly in the chat room.
However, MBC’s journalist is not among them.
Kim’s legal team excluded certain media journalists, including MBC’s, accusing them of “inaccurate reporting.”
After the press conference announcement, MBC asked again why they were excluded.
The legal team responded, “We’ve mentioned the reasons several times, you should know even if we don’t say.”
Kim Yong-hyun’s exclusion of MBC is not new.
At the end of 2022, as President Yoon was preparing for a trip, Kim, then the Chief of Security, first proposed banning MBC reporters from the presidential plane.
Additionally, during the martial law period, the announcement specified that under the guise of “fake news,” all media and publications would be controlled by the martial law command, underscoring attempts at media control.
The Broadcast Journalists Association, National Union of Media Workers, and the Journalists Association of Korea issued an urgent joint statement.
They stated, “This is an attempt to grant privileges to some media and use them as a platform to justify the crimes of rebellion,” warning, “Do not exploit the media to incite and justify rebellion.”
They also urged, “As long as Kim Yong-hyun’s legal team does not withdraw their media access restrictions, all media should completely boycott covering and reporting on the press conference,” emphasizing, “No media should become the mouthpiece of a rebel.”
This has been Gu Nayoung for MBC News.
MBC News is always open to your reports.
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