"“Anti-Japan” and “Hate-Korea” Emotions in Media Discourse: Semantic Network and Framing Analyses"

Abstract

This paper explores media articles addressing the most recent conflict between Japan and Korea focusing on the Korean court ruling on South Korean forced labor (called “wartime labor” by the Japanese). This study collected data from two major Korean and Japanese conservative and liberal newspapers and employed both quantitative (semantic networks) and qualitative (framings) analyses. The overall results of quantitative approaches showed that Korean newspapers are more inclined to cover conflictual relations between Korea and Japan. Japanese newspapers, in contrast, responded indifferently to this issue. Qualitative results showed that the South Korean media is inclined to judge Japan as an assailant that disregards moral duties. To overcome this conflict, the two countries should be more proactive in exerting efforts toward improving their relations in the future.