The Moment the Egg Broke the Rock... We Stood Together as Comrades

Kim Jungkyu's Arrest Brings Ditnews24 Back Into the Spotlight

Members of DITNews24 fighting together with civil society in front of the Tire Bank building.

Kim Jungkyu, chairman of Tirebank, who was recently taken into custody in court after being sentenced to three years in prison at the end of a seven-year trial on charges of tax evasion.

At this moment, there are people whose hearts are more overwhelmed than anyone else's. They are none other than the members of Daejeon-Chungnam's Ditnews24. Apart from Chairman Kim's tax evasion charges, other suspicions had also been raised against him. Kim had been abusing his power over Ditnews24 journalists, who have chronicled the history of Daejeon and Chungnam, where he was the largest shareholder and could exert influence.

Unjust transfers and dismissals of conscientious journalists who spoke up for what was right?these are things one would hardly believe could happen at a media company, often called the "salt of society," yet such incidents were taking place at Ditnews24.

Civil society, upon learning of these circumstances, lent their support to these journalists. Both local and national media criticized Chairman Kim's behavior, launching a barrage of condemnation. Civil society and the media took action, and the Chungcheong region responded as well.

A senior journalist at Ditnews24 said, "Considering all the abuses of power and wrongdoing inflicted on the internal staff by the owner of the media company, the punishment actually feels too lenient. Of course, this is not a punishment for those abuses, but emotionally, it feels as though justice has been served. I am sure this is not just my own feeling." These words were spoken as he reflected on and summarized the events that had transpired.

Kim Jaejung, head of the Ditnews24 branch of the National Union of Mediaworkers, said, "Separate from the case of imprisonment for tax evasion, we formed a joint countermeasures committee together with the National Union of Mediaworkers, which has over 16,000 members nationwide, as well as labor and civil society organizations from Daejeon, Sejong, and the Chungcheong region, and conscientious citizens. As a result of our struggle, it greatly helped to normalize the newspaper company," and added, "Since there are media colleagues with common sense and conscience standing with us, I believe even more citizens will join (Ditnews24) in the future."