SEOUL: South Korea’s recent fall in global press freedom rankings comes as no particular surprise to Choi Seung-Ho. The film lists many others who were arrested, beaten and even executed on false spying charges over the decades. In it’s latest World Press Freedom index published in April, the media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) ranked South Korea 70th in the world — down 10 places from 2015. “I absolutely disagree with what RSF says about press freedom in this country,” said Han Min-Ho director general of the media policy bureau at the Ministry of Culture. “The news media enjoys freedom of expression to the degree that its attacks against the president sometimes verge on cruelty”, Han told Agence France-Presse.

Source: Manila Times October 08, 2016 15:56 UTC