◀ Anchor ▶
During his visit to the United States six months ago, Ryu Hee-rim, chairman of the National Defense Commission, quickly issued a press release promoting the results of his trip.
The story was that he met with a high-ranking Google executive and received a promise to quickly delete illegal content on YouTube.
However, there was also evidence that an attempt was made to exaggerate the results.
This is reporter Lee Yong-ju.
◀ Report ▶
Press release from the Korea Communications Standards Commission last May.
Chairman Ryu Hee-rim, who is visiting the United States, officially announced that he had received a promise from Google headquarters to ‘delete illegal YouTube content as quickly as possible.’
This material was distributed unusually quickly, even before Chairman Ryu returned to Korea.
However, as it became known that Chairman Ryu hit the desk during the meeting with Google’s Vice President and that Google Korea later visited the National Security Commission in protest, questions were raised about the outcome of the meeting.
In particular, the controversy spread with a letter from Google’s vice president released in the National Assembly.
He completely denied the National Defense Commission’s original announcement, saying, “I am not in a position to make promises, and I do not remember making any promises regarding YouTube.”
[최민희/국회 과방위원장 – 장경식/방심위 국제협력단장 (지난달 21일)]
“Is Markham Ericsson (Google Vice President) lying?”
[류희림/방송통신심의위원장 (지난달 24일)]
“We have a recorded file to record the meeting (with Google) at the time.”
MBC obtained the transcript of this file and looked at it.
In Google’s comments, the expression ‘promise’ appears only once.
In response to the National Defense Commission’s request to quickly take action against YouTube’s illegal content, Google’s vice president is said to have responded by saying, “I promise to look into and investigate the matter quickly.”
Google’s response, which meant ‘we will review whether quick action is possible,’ was exaggerated in the National Defense Commission’s press release to ‘prompt deletion.’
[최민희/더불어민주당 의원]
“Data is pouring in that proves Mr. Ryu Hee-rim’s lies. Mr. Ryu Hee-rim, who was said to be reviewing ‘fake news’, has become a producer of ‘fake news’ himself. The lies he told to inflate his achievements and the perjury he gave to the National Assembly Mr. Ryu Hee-rim must take responsibility for these things and step down.”
The National Security Commission stated, “I personally wrote this transcript immediately after the interview with Google, but the recording file was destroyed.”
In addition, in response to repeated questions from MBC about what exactly Google’s promise was, the National Defense Commission simply responded, “All facts were revealed through a press release that had already been distributed.”
This is Lee Yong-ju from MBC News.
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