Office of the President to Allow MBC Reporters on Board Presidential Jet

The presidential jet taking off from Seoul Airport. Office of the President press photographers

The Office of the President decided to permit MBC reporters on board the presidential jet when President Yoon Suk-yeol travels to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Switzerland on January 14.

According to an official from the presidential office on Friday, the Office of the President informed MBC reporters that they could board Code One on Thursday night.

The president normally flies on the presidential jet, the Air Force Code One, for his overseas trips and reporters covering the presidential office accompany him. All costs during the trip including the cost to board the presidential jet are covered by the newspaper and broadcasting companies.

Last November, the presidential office stirred political controversy after denying MBC reporters a seat on Code One when President Yoon visited Cambodia and Indonesia.

According to the Office of the President, the main reason was because MBC harmed national interest with distorted coverage of President Yoon’s so-called “humiliating for Biden” comment, when the president was in New York to attend the UN General Assembly at the end of last September.

At the time, the entire group of reporters in the main press room of the Office of the President released a statement on the decision to ban MBC and announced, “We express strong regret on the fact that the Office of the President caused great confusion among the entire press covering the presidential office by making a unilateral decision to ban a certain media outlet from boarding the presidential jet without any prior discussions, with the trip imminent.” They asked the presidential office to quickly withdraw the decision, but the request was never accepted.