Baek Hyunjin on MBC President's Plane Boarding Ban: "Not Media Control"

Repeatedly Posting on Facebook to Defend
“Excluding Journalists from North Korean Defector Backgrounds under Moon Government Is Media Control”

Bae Hyun-jin and Yoon Young-seok, who announced their resignation from the position of Supreme Council members of the People Power Party, are leaving the meeting room after a closed Supreme Council meeting held at the floor leader's office in the National Assembly on the 2nd. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Hyun-ji] Bae Hyun-jin, a member of the People Power Party and former MBC announcer, reiterated on the 10th that the presidential office's refusal to allow MBC reporters to board President Yoon Seok-yeol's official plane for his overseas trip is not 'media control.'

On the same day, Bae wrote on her Facebook, "(The Yoon Seok-yeol administration) is a government more proactive with the media than any other, including doorstepping, so it would be awkward for MBC to call this media control," adding, "It is not a ban on coverage itself, but only a refusal to provide boarding on the official plane, so I think there will be no major difficulties in covering the overseas trip."

In subsequent posts on the same day, she made similar claims. She said, "When there are not enough seats on the official plane, reporters sometimes take commercial flights through a lottery among themselves," and added, "MBC is only not boarding the official plane for this trip, but the path for coverage remains open as before, so I hope they have a successful presidential diplomatic trip for national interests using commercial flights."

She continued, "In the fall of 2018, one hour before the departure of the high-level inter-Korean talks delegation, the Moon Jae-in administration unilaterally notified that a reporter from Chosun Ilbo, who was a defector, be excluded from the Blue House pool (joint coverage team)," and said, "That was exclusion from coverage. Such a case is clear media control," directing criticism at the previous administration.

Regarding the presidential office's decision, Bae evaluated, "It is the government's response after much deliberation to MBC, which has consistently ignored requests to correct numerous distortions and biased broadcasts and prevent recurrence," and pointed out, "(Boarding on the official plane) is a convenience provided based on minimal trust and respect agreed upon with each media outlet, not an automatic seat given just because one carries a media title."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.