Presidential Race Interview Limits?

The National Election Commission (NEC) held a general committee meeting at the headquarters of the NEC in Jungang-dong, Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province on December 21, and decided to submit a suggestion to revise the public official election laws related to limiting media interviews for the presidential candidates.

The NEC also stated that it will decide by next week on the specific guidelines regarding the extent of media interviews allowed by the current law until the election laws are altered, and send it to each media company. But this is likely to be a contentious issue, as the NEC, an administrative organization, can forcefully limit the forms of interview and reporting of the media.

A source from the NEC said, “We decided to submit a suggestion to revise the law by agreeing that the current election law regulation that allows candidates to participate in invited interviews and discussion sessions only 120 days before the elections goes against the current trend in which elections are greatly influenced by the media.”

The source continued, “Even when suggesting a revision of the law, we should continue to observe the current law until it is revised, so we decided to prepare a separate guideline on media interviews,” and added, “The specific details for the standards for interviews will be prepared by the relevant department, where the committee members will hear the opinions and make a final decision.”

tesomiom@donga.com