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| Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon on his way to the ministry for work on Monday / Yonhap |
Justice minister calls left-wing YouTubers who claim to be media 'lawless gangs'
By Lee Yeon-woo
Left-wing YouTube channel "Citizen Press The Tamsa" has found itself at the center of controversy after its staffers tried to confront Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon at his home on Sunday afternoon.
Comparing them to "lawless gangs," Minster Han has pressed charges as the YouTubers entered the building without permission.
Han claimed that the YouTube channel The Tamsa collaborates with politicians and they are doing what politicians in the past hired gangsters to do. "The Democratic Party of Korea and The Tamsa are partners and they team up with each other to do certain things. Even when what they had said turns out to be false, they never apologize," the justice minister said.
Five members of the YouTube channel claiming they are journalists appeared at the front door to Han's apartment without making an appointment. They livestreamed their attempts to confront the minister on their channel.
One of them can be heard to ask, "Is Minister Han there?" Another said, "We are The Tamsa and we came to report on you."
While they claimed they were there to report on the minister, they also made it clear that the purpose of their "unannounced visit" was retaliation, after police conducted a search and seizure operation earlier that day at the home of one of The Tamsa's reporters accused of stalking Han. "I hope you can realize how we felt when our reporter's home was raided," one of them said.
Earlier, Han had sought to take legal action against The Tamsa as one of its reporters had been following his vehicle while he was commuting over the course of one month. The reporter and the channel denied the stalking allegations, claiming it was simply an act of collecting information.
The members who visited Han's home called out to the minister through his front door several times. They tried to open the front door and handled a parcel left out front to check the recipient label. They left after receiving no response from anyone inside.
Later it was known that Han's wife and child were at home at the time.
It is not the first time that The Tamsa and Han have been at odds with each other.
In October, Rep. Kim Eui-kyeom of the main opposition Democratic Party (DPK) accused Han of having a late-night drinking party at a luxury bar in southern Seoul's Cheongdam-dong in July, with President Yoon Suk-yeol and 30 lawyers from the country's top law firm. Kim said he had been cooperating with The Tamsa.
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| Staffers of the left-wing YouTube channel "Citizen Press The Tamsa" stand at the door to Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon's home in Gangnam District, Seoul, Sunday. Screenshot from the channel's livestreamed video |
The accusation turned out to be false, however, as the cellist who had originally said she witnessed the party later testified to police that her original story had been a lie.
The aggressive behavior of the YouTubers has caused a stir.
Unlike legacy media outlets that are regulated under the Broadcasting Act, an increasing number of personal broadcasters operating YouTube channels are regulated only with respect to the portrayal of pornographic or other illegal content.
"Imagine every stalker in Korea making their own YouTube channel and breaking into other people's homes and claiming they are covering news. Do you think that would be accepted?" Oh Yoon-sung, a criminal justice professor at Soon Chun Hyang University, said to The Korea Times.
"If those actions can be justified in the name of news, then every media outlet in Korea can make excuses for such wrongdoings. It's ridiculous," he said. "Freedom of speech can be protected only when it is exercised within legal boundaries."
He added The Tamsa's actions not only border on stalking but also trespassing.
Kim Geun-sik, a professor of political science at Kyungnam University and a former lawmaker, also said the YouTubers went too far.
"The basics of coverage: call, text and ask whether the person can meet and is willing to do an interview, or send an email. Appearing at someone's door and asking them for sympathy after one of your homes was raided by police in the morning? This is just retaliation," he said during a local radio interview.
Rep. Chung Jin-suk, the interim chief of the ruling People Power Party, also criticized The Tamsa during Monday's briefing and said he doesn't consider the channel a legitimate media outlet.
Rep. Kim Jong-min of the DPK also requested the YouTubers to follow media ethics in their reporting. "Both sides are confronting each other at an extreme level ... But I believe the legitimacy and the reliability of the coverage are guaranteed only when falling within the boundaries of media ethics."
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