The Yonhap News Network published a statement retracting the misinformed content it broadcasted about Christian Gospel Mission’s President Jung Myung Seok. Yonhap News published this statement on March 16, 2015.
The original article | archived on 13 Jan 2017. Here is a brief translation of the announcement:
The Yonhap Television Network (YTN), a 24-hour news network based in South Korea, made the following retraction statement in relation to information recently aired about Jung Myung Seok.
The broadcast in question occurred between May 22 and July 26, 2014.
YTN published its retractions as follows:
“Between May 22 and July 26, 2014, this news station broadcasted as follows about President Jung Myung Seok: “President Jung Myung Seok of JMS sexually assaulted female members and then fled to various foreign countries, but was eventually captured by the Chinese police when he was in China and repatriated to Korea,” “He stowed away,” and “He accepted sexual favors as bribes from female members.”
However, after YTN verified the truth, they realized the prosecutors involved had dismissed Jung’s sexual assault charges. Jung Myung Seok traveled overseas lawfully. He returned to Korea several times during his travels. During that time, prosecutors investigated him about his travels.
YTN is not the only broadcast station to misrepresent Jung Myung Seok. The prosecutors also dropped charges saying Jung Myung Seok accepted sexual favors for bribes. They found it was not true.
By looking at these caes, you can that the media did not base their reports of Jung entirely on facts. That is why they made corrections to their broadcasts when the Christian Gospel Mission pointed out their errors.
Additionally, YTN confirmed that the name JMS was not in fact the ministry’s official name. The official name is the Christian Gospel Mission.
The retractions by YTN are the latest in a series of controversies following the JMS ruling in 2009.
Following Jung Myung Seok’s sentencing, judges found Seoul Broadcasting Station guilty of broadcasting edited versions of Jung’s sermons prior to his trial.
The english translation and pictures are released for public use under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.
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The life and background of Pastor Jung Myung Seok.
It is easy to withdraw past accusations, but the damage is already done.
How many people would actually read this yonhap apology, compared to the initial sensational article that appeared erroneously?
I agree. There needs to be a better way to hold accountable people behind the news stories rather than set the facts straight.