South Korean prosecutors indicted a Japanese journalist for allegedly defaming South Korea’s president by reporting rumors that she was absent for seven hours during the April ferry disaster because she was with a man.  No such indictment had been issued for the Korean newspaper that first published the story.

“President Park Geun-hye was missing on the day the passenger ship sank.  Who was she meeting?” blared the story from 48-year old Tatsuya Kato.  It was hardly original reporting, repeating rumors in the South Korean media and the financial industry “about a relationship between the president and a man” said to be married at the time.  The media advocacy group Reporters Without Borders says South Korean prosecutors haven’t investigated the conservative Chosun Ilbo nwspaper for the original report on the rumors.

You might say that this story displays the fruits of conservative nationalism.  South Korean President Park Geun-hye is from the conservative Saenuri Party and the daughter of a murderous military dictator of the 1960s and ‘70s Park Chung-hee, known for clamping down on the media and torturing his opponents. 

Kato’s employer is the Sankei Shimbun, one of Japan’s most-conservative newspapers, reviled by many in South Korea for its right-wing positions – particularly when it comes to relations and territorial disputes between Japan and South Korea.

South Korean prosecutors as saying Kato was indicted because his article “defamed (Park’s) reputation by indicating without any proof that the female president had improper relations (with an unidentified man).”

Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida expressed concern over the indictment, and Sankei Shimbun’s demanded it be retracted as soon as possible.

“It is a serious and clear violation to the freedom of speech guaranteed by the constitution not only of South Korea but also of Japan and any other democratic nation,” said Takamitsu Kumasaka.

BTW, did you notice how none of the parties seem to be complaining about the glaring sexism of the South Korean rumors?  Really, a woman can’t be president without being distracted by boys?  Really?