Dec. 19 (Asia Today) -- President Lee Jae-myung on Friday questioned South Korea's restrictions on access to North Korean state media such as Rodong Sinmun and the Korean Central News Agency, saying the policy treats citizens as if they could be swayed by propaganda.
"Isn't the reason for blocking access to Rodong Sinmun because they fear the public might fall for propaganda and become communists?" Lee said during a joint briefing by the Foreign Ministry and the Unification Ministry at the Government Complex Seoul.
Lee criticized the approach as treating the public "not as autonomous beings" but as people susceptible to "propaganda and agitation," and he ordered that access to North Korean media be opened.
Lee asked a Unification Ministry official whether opening access could trigger political backlash, including accusations that the government is trying to turn South Korea into a communist state.
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