청 "Samjeonggeom Award Ceremony Report Is Misinformation and Distortion"

Cheong Wa Dae Reviews Legal Action Over Samjeonggeom Event Media Coverage... Also Clarifies 2018 Remains Repatriation Ceremony Reports

[Asia Economy Reporter Ryu Jeong-min] The Blue House has stated that media reports regarding the Samjeonggeom award ceremony are false and distorted.

On the 16th, Kang Min-seok, spokesperson for the Blue House, said, "Reports related to the Samjeonggeom award ceremony are clearly false and distorted. False, distorted, and exaggerated reports must stop. Following the report on the 14th, the Blue House is currently considering legal action against the malicious reports being released."

The Blue House explained the Samjeonggeom event and claimed that media reports differ from the facts. Spokesperson Kang said, "Before 2018, there was no Samjeonggeom award ceremony itself, so no budget was allocated by the Ministry of National Defense to carry out the event," adding, "the Ministry of National Defense, which had no related budget, could not proceed with contracts before the event, and the event was pushed forward first."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Spokesperson Kang stated, "Because the budget was not secured, the event costs were executed through post-settlement after the event, but the article does not explain this urgent situation at all and is driving the narrative in a distorted direction," and argued, "the media’s mention of a 'company not even registered as a corporation' is just a repeated unfair accusation."

Spokesperson Kang also clarified media reports related to the 2018 Armed Forces Day 'repatriation ceremony.' Kang said, "Presidential attendance events can be contracted through private contracts due to security and urgency reasons, and the contract conditions, contents, and amounts are all handled by the relevant department’s administrative work," adding, "the media claims that the Ministry of National Defense entrusted the event to the company without the necessary documents for the contract, but all required documents (estimate, women-owned business certificate, event task order, service content inspection report, etc., totaling seven documents) are kept from the contracting process."