S. Korea Arrests 2 Generals, Relieves a 3rd in Attack on Journalist Critical of Military

SEOUL —  In an unprecedented crackdown on the military, the government announced Tuesday that two generals had been arrested and a third relieved of his command in connection with a brutal attack on a journalist who had criticized South Korea’s “military culture.”

Brig. Gen. Lee Kyu Hong, commander of an army intelligence unit, was charged with ordering the attack, which was allegedly carried out by a major and three sergeants in his command, a Defense Ministry spokesman said.

The spokesman, Lee Heung Sik, said the sergeants and the major were arrested earlier. The victim of the attack, Oh Hong Keun, city editor of the newspaper Joong-ang Ilbo, was beaten and stabbed as he left his home Aug. 6.

Brig. Gen. Lee was accused of ordering his men to chastise Oh for an article he wrote criticizing military influence in government and society.

Accused of Cover-Up

At the same time, Brig. Gen. Kwon Ki Dae, chief of staff of the Army Intelligence Command, was charged with destroying evidence in an attempt to cover up the attack.

The top officer of the Intelligence Command, Maj. Gen. Lee Chin Baek, was accused of failing to punish his subordinates and report the incident. He was relieved and detained for questioning. Whether he will be arrested, the spokesman said, will be decided after the interrogation is completed.

He said Maj. Gen. Lee was not involved in planning or ordering the attack and added, “We apologize for this shameful incident and will ensure that there is no recurrence.”

The army’s Criminal Investigation Division made the arrests on orders from President Roh Tae Woo, who is himself a former general. All six of the accused are to be tried by court-martial, and the case is widely viewed as a test of Roh’s commitment to carry out democratic reforms.

Practices in Chun Era

Under former President Chun Doo Hwan, who stepped down in February after eight years in office, military security and intelligence commands interrogated dissidents and often tortured them in the process but never were military officers charged in connection with such activity.

The identity of the attackers was traced through a military vehicle they used, even though the army, acting on Kwon’s orders, repainted the car and allegedly altered the record of its movements.

The spokesman said no other senior officers were involved in the incident but indicated that additional personnel of lesser rank might be arrested.

Broadcast Strike to End

Meanwhile, Hwang Son Pil, the president of Munhwa Broadcasting Corp., one of two national radio and television networks, agreed to resign to end a four-day strike by the MBC union. The union, which reporters and producers established last year to end years of government censorship, had demanded the resignation of Hwang, a former presidential spokesman, as well as the right to recommend candidates for five key editorial and production posts.

The union chairman, Chung Ki Pyung, said reporters and producers accepted a compromise that retains the management’s right to appoint the key managerial personnel but subjects these persons to an interim appraisal after a year of service.

“That provision contains the seeds of future trouble,” the union leader said.

He said the public’s unfavorable opinion of the strike, which had caused cancellation of most news programs since Friday, forced the union to compromise. He said the public “mistakenly thought we were threatening to disrupt the Olympic Games,” which are scheduled to begin in Seoul on Sept. 17.

To Reinstate Announcers

MBC agreed to reinstate 11 anchormen and announcers who were banned from TV after appearing on camera before the strike wearing ribbons imprinted with “Fair Reporting.” MBC also agreed to set up a “fair broadcasting coordination committee” composed of company and union representatives.

This is the third time that a mass media union has won the right to intervene in managerial appointments. Earlier this year, unions at two provincial newspapers won the right to veto appointments of key managers.

In another development, Kim Yong Kap, minister of government administration, apologized to the National Assembly for “causing anxiety and public controversy” Aug. 13 by criticizing the “spread of radical leftist forces.”

He denied opposition charges that his remarks were linked to the military attack on Oh, the journalist, as part of a right-wing reaction against advocates of democracy.

Kim said he had not advocated revision of the new constitution, saying he had only described as abnormal its failure to give the president the power to dissolve the National Assembly.