Assembly must probe all suspicions

The ruling and opposition parties are wrangling over the proposed parliamentary investigation into the government`s ongoing tax audit of media firms. The ruling Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) contends that the probe is no different than the tax audit of the media that was conducted under the Kim Young-Sam regime in 1994. Meanwhile, the opposition Grand National Party (GNP) is demanding a parliamentary investigation of the ongoing tax investigation. But the bipartisan bickering is pointless. The National Assembly should look into both the 1994 audit and the latest one. The opposition GNP submitted Thursday a motion demanding a parliamentary inspection of the administration, alleging that the tax probe is part of a government conspiracy to control the press. This step followed the disclosure by a weekly news magazine of documents alleging that the government is pushing ahead with secret plans to tame some anti-government newspapers on the pretext of reforming the media.

In this connection, the GNP also contended that the ongoing tax audits were aimed at preventing "lame-duck syndrome" in the Kim Dae-Jung government and allowing it to maintain its grip on power.

The ruling MDP said media firms should not be exempted from the tax scrutiny, saying that all business enterprises are subject to tax audits and that the public supports media reform. As we pointed out earlier, our position is that the tax authorities are within their rights to investigate local media organizations in accordance with relevant legal procedures and that if any irregularities are found, the government should take due legal steps against the delinquent firms. Nonetheless, it is the ruling camp that provoked the opposition party to go so far as to demand a parliamentary probe into the case. The governing camp must realize that there are considerable suspicions that political motivations are behind the tax probe. No sooner had President Kim insisted on the need for media reform in his New Year`s press conference than the National Tax Service started intensive tax probes of media outlets. This was closely followed by the Fair Trade Commission`s investigation of the business dealings of media firms.

Such skepticism was bolstered with the arrival of the controversial regulatory documents, which appear to have been produced by the ruling camp. Few people would disagree with the contention that the documents, which argued that newspapers should be grouped into three categories -- anti-government, neutral and pro-government -- seemed to show that illegitimate means had been used to restrain anti-government papers under the guise of tax and financial transaction investigations. If the ruling party wants to support its claim that it did not draw up the controversial documents and never saw them before they were leaked, there is no reason for it to reject the opposition`s request for a parliamentary inquiry into the case.

At the same time, the Assembly should investigate the outcome of the tax audit of media firms that was allegedly conducted by the Kim Young-Sam regime in 1994. If the government dismisses former president Kim`s recent statement without clarification, it will only deepen public distrust of the mass media. The ex-president was quoted as saying that his government did not take legal steps against media organizations but did lower the amount of tax collected from them, adding that had the results of the tax audits on newspaper companies been made public, they would have been forced to shut their doors. Once again, we urge a parliamentary probe of both the ongoing tax audit and the one conducted in 1994.