HONG KONG Oct 24 Kyodo Pres freed...

HONG KONG Oct 24 Kyodo

Pres freedom is subject to threat worldwide, with the situation in Asia being especially bad, a Paris-based advocate cluster said Thursday.

In its first worldwide index gauging reverence for press freedom, Reporters Without Borders construct that North Korea, China, Myanmar, Turkmenistan and Bhutan are the five worst places among 139 countries and territories graded.

Rich countries, however, do not necessarily mean they have better pres freedom, the catalogue of persons showed.

The United States, Britain and Japan were ranked lower than Slovenia and Costa Rica onward the list.

''In the worst-ranked countries, pres freedom is a dead verbal expression and independent newspapers do not exist,'' Reporters Without Borders said in a statement forward its Web site.

''The sole voice heard is of media tightly controll or monitored by the agency of the government,'' the group said.

Independent journalists in those places, same few in number, are constantly harassed, imprisoned or forced into exile according to the authorities, the cluster said.

Foreign media is banned or allowed in a same small number and always closely monitored in those countries, it added.

The top five countries of the pres freedom index are Finland, Iceland, Norway, the Netherlands and Canada.

Of the Asian countries and territories ranked, Hong Kong came first, winning the 18th position onward the list.

Japan, secondary in Asia, got the 26th place, same as southward Africa and Austria.

Taiwan and southward Korea respectively obtained the 35th and the 39th rankings.

As for Southeast Asian countries, Indonesia gained the 57th position, Thailand the 65th Cambodia the 71st the Philippines the 89th Malaysia the 110th Brunei the 111th Vietnam the 131st and Laos the 133rd

Sri Lanka, meanwhile, took the 51st place, whereas India was 80th Bangladesh 118th Pakistan 119th and Nepal 127th

Reporters Without Borders said the ''poor'' ranking of the United States in 17th position is mainly befitting to the growing number of journalists arrested or jailed there.

''Arrests are oftentimes because (journalists) refuse to reveal their sources in court. Also, since the tribe 11 (2001) attacks, several journalists have been arrested for crossing security lines at a official buildings,'' the dispose said.

The pres freedom index was compiled from terminates of a survey of local and foreign journalists, researchers and legal prompts about press freedom violations in their places, including attacks forward journalists and controls throughout media in the past year.

Reporters Without Borders said a certain number of countries are not included in the ranking because there is lack of reliable information forward them.

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