» Members of the South Korean Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRCK) hold a press conference at their offices in Seoul’s Chungmuro neighborhood to publicly announce the results of their investigation on the matter of the forceful dismissal of reporters in 1980 under Chun Doo-hwan, Jan. 7.

On Thursday, South Korea’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRCK) asked the government to issue a formal apology for the forceful dismissals of reporters from their jobs in 1980 under Chun doo-whan, then-leader of the military coup d‘etat.

Members of the TRCK held a press conference regarding this issue later that day and said, “The Coup d’etat forcefully dismissed more than 1 thousand reporters between July and August of 1980 and had merged 64 media outlet companies into 18 companies by November. TRCK commenced an investigation into the matter in Nov. 2007 because it considered it significant in understanding and correcting distortions in South Korea‘s history.

The TRCK came to its conclusion after examining a total of 45 thousand documents and conducting interviews with 150 individuals that the actions taken were illegal because although the Army Security Command (ASC) led by Chun Doo-whan had no authority over press matters. Despite a lack of authority, the ASC applied pressure on media outlet companies to fire a great number of journalists and forcefully shut down some media outlet companies. According to the TRCK, the ASC classified 30 percent of the reporters as persons who had criticized the coup d’etat and urged the media outlet companies to fire them. Accordingly, the TRCK is asking the government to take appropriate measures, including issuing a formal apology and providing compensation.

Kim Jun-kon, standing director of the TRCK, said, ”What happened must not be allowed to happen again, where a government body is able to oppress a journalist solely because he or she voiced their criticism of the government.“

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