Full Court Press

Roh Moo Hyun is recruiting for a new cadre of proxy censors in his war against a critical press:

Continuing his battles with the media, President Roh Moo-hyun sent an e-mail yesterday to about 500,000 government officials, encouraging them take action against any media they believe acted wrongly, including taking them to court.

In principle, I’m not opposed to the government having some appropriate way to address its  grievances against inaccurate press coverage.  And this, friends, is not an appropriate way:  asking one’s subordinate government employees to participate in partisan politics at work by filing costly guerrilla litigation (which is why we have this thing called the  Hatch Act in the United States). 

It’s useful here to keep in mind that many government employees are part of the Korean Government Employees’ Union, which is now a part of the pro-North Korean (at least, if you listen to its General Secretary) Korean Confederation of Trade Unions.   The idea of  making any component of the KCTU a guardian of  public order doesn’t soothe the nerves, either.  Those civil servants will remain in their positions, with all the partisan and subversive potential that implies, long after Roh  retires.