Concerns raised over S. Korean treatment of Bloomberg reporter

SEOUL: International journalists’ organisations are criticising South Korea’s press freedoms after the country’s ruling party singled out a Bloomberg reporter with South Korean nationality over what it claimed was a “borderline traitorous” article insulting President Moon Jae-in, resulting in threats to the reporter’s safety.

The Democratic Party said yesterday that it had no immediate plans to withdraw a March 13 statement by spokesman Lee Hae-sik, who attacked the reporter by name over a September article whose headline described the liberal Moon as acting as the “top spokesman” of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at the United Nations General Assembly.