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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SEOUL 000263 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV MARR ECON KPAO KS US
SUBJECT: SEOUL - PRESS BULLETIN; FEBRUARY 19, 2010 
 
TOP HEADLINES 
------------- 
 
Chosun Ilbo 
Korean Medical Association: "Serious Medical Errors 
with Not-Guilty Court Ruling on MBC TV's "PD Diary" 
 
JoongAng Ilbo 
Study Shows that Students Rely on 
Private Institutes over Public School Education 
 
Dong-a Ilbo 
19 Universities Seeking to Open Pharmacy Colleges 
Pass First Government Screening 
 
Hankook Ilbo, Segye Ilbo, Seoul Shinmun, All TVs 
500-Meter Speed Skating Gold Medalist Mo Tae-bum 
Adds Silver in 1,000-Meter Event 
 
Hankyoreh Shinmun 
Two Years after Launch of Lee Myung-bak Administration, Private 
Education Spending Remains 
Heavy Economic Burden for Households 
 
 
INTERNATIONAL NEWS 
------------------ 
 
Deputy State Department Spokesman Mark Toner, in a Feb. 17 regular 
briefing, said that the U.S. has no plans to hold additional talks 
with North Korea. He also said that he has nothing to announce on 
reports that North Korea's top nuclear negotiator, Kim Kye-gwan, may 
visit the U.S. next month.   (Hankyoreh, all TVs) 
 
According to Good Friends, a Seoul-based rights group, North Korea 
has allowed private markets to reopen nationwide and is no longer 
cracking down on trading in food at the markets, after its failed 
currency reform worsened food shortages and fueled anger directed at 
the regime. (JoongAng, Dong-a) 
 
 
MEDIA ANALYSIS 
-------------- 
 
-N. Korea 
--------- 
Left-leaning Hankyoreh Shinmun and all TV networks carried reports 
quoting Deputy State Department Spokesman Mark Toner as saying 
during a Feb. 17 regular briefing that the U.S. has no plans to hold 
additional talks with North Korea "at this time."   He was further 
quoted regarding reports of a possible visit to the U.S. next month 
by chief North Korean nuclear negotiator Kim Kye-gwan: "I don't have 
anything to announce on that." 
 
Hankyoreh Shinmun, however, observed that the U.S. spokesman's use 
of the words, "not at this time," indicates that the U.S. has not 
completely closed off the possibility of a second round of bilateral 
talks with North Korea. 
 
President Obama's Meeting with the Dalai Lama 
Most ROK media gave attention to President Obama's Feb. 18 meeting 
at the White House with the Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader in 
exile.  The media noted that the President met him in the Map Room, 
a reception room, rather than in the Oval Office, his official 
office, and interpreted this as being aimed at not offending China, 
which has strongly opposed the President's meeting with the Dalai 
Lama. 
 
Conservative Chosun Ilbo headlined its article: "Obama, Dalai Lama 
Meet Quietly."  Moderate Hankook Ilbo's headline read: "Obama Meets 
Privately with Dalai Lama, Apparently Out of Concern that It Would 
Strain Relations with China" 
 
 
SEOUL 00000263  002 OF 002 
 
 
 
FEATURES 
-------- 
 
WHY DOES THE KOREAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION RAISE OBJECTIONS NOW? 
(Hankyoreh Shinmun, February 12, Page 12) 
 
By Medical Reporter Kim Yang-jung 
 
In a controversial announcement, the Korean Medical Association 
(KMA) said that medical circles do not agree with the not-guilty 
verdict for MBC TV's "PD Diary," which reported on the risk of mad 
cow disease from U.S. beef.  (However,) experts on mad cow disease 
noted that the KMA's claims are a distortion of basic facts, and 
that it is questionable whether the association thoroughly verified 
its claims. 
 
The KMA on February 18 issued a press release regarding the court 
decision on MBC TV's "PD Diary," in which the association expressed 
deep concern, saying that medical circles strongly disagree with 
some parts of the court's ruling.  The KMA argued that the program 
did not provide a balanced reporting of Aretha Vinson's death 
because it only conveyed the position of Vinson's family who filed a 
suit against the doctor, without presenting her doctor's side of the 
story.  The KMA also questioned why the court did not see a problem 
with the "PD Diary" episode even though an autopsy found that Vinson 
died of Wernicke's encephalopathy, not vCJD, a human variant of mad 
cow disease.  Additionally, regarding the program's report that 
Koreans are genetically susceptible to mad cow disease, the KMA said 
that the court ruling is seriously flawed because it did not 
acknowledge that genetic and environmental factors conspire to cause 
the disease. 
 
 In this regard, Park Sang-pyo, a policy director of the 
Veterinarians' Solidarity for Public Health, pointed out, 
"Considering that the episode was broadcast on April 29, 2008, and a 
lawsuit by (the mother of) Aretha Vinson came a month later on May 
27,  "PD Diary" covered the case before the lawsuit was even filed. 
In addition, while "PD Diary" interviewed both the patient's 
bereaved family and her doctor, the KMA is nevertheless distorting 
basic facts." 
 
Woo Suk-kyun, a policy director of the Korean Federation of Medical 
Groups for Health Rights, made a rebuttal, saying, "By taking issue 
with ("PD Diary") not airing the position of medical doctors on the 
cause of death of Aretha Vinson, the KMA is disregarding basic 
medical ethics.  In the U.S. as well as the ROK, it is against basic 
ethical principles and the duties of a doctor to talk about patient 
information carelessly in places other than a court." 
 
Regarding the "PD Diary" report that Koreans are particularly 
susceptible to the human form of BSE, Woo Hee-jong, a professor of 
veterinary medicine at Seoul National University, noted, "It 
(Koreans being more susceptible to the human form of BSE) has been 
confirmed several times by many domestic and foreign researchers, 
including the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and 
Hallym University College of Medicine.  I also doubt that the KMA 
listened sufficiently to the opinions of BSE experts among its 
members." 
 
(Editor's Note: Chosun Ilbo also carried a report on the KMA's 
statement, focusing coverage on the KMA's disagreement with the 
court ruling.  Its headline read: "Korean Medical Association: 
"Serious Medical Errors with Not-Guilty Court Ruling on MBC TV's "PD 
Diary") 
 
 
STEPHENS