Framing the Nuke: How News Media Among Countries in the Six-Party Talks Framed North Korea's Nuclear Test

Abstract

IntroductionAfter succeeding Kim Jong-il upon his death on December 17, 2011, Kim Jongun, the new leader of North Korea, oversaw testing of nuclear weapons on February 12, 2013, marking North Korea's third nuclear weapon test.1 The objectives of the nuclear tests were those of regime consolidation of domestic political and military power over North Korea after increasing tension among neighborhood countries. North Korea's nuclear program, begun by Kim Il-sung, the country's founder, has been used strategically under the leadership of his son Kim Jong-il and his grandson Kim Jong-un.2 In this context, the first nuclear test in 2006 is still meaningful to the analysis of the dynamic reactions of the neighboring countries to North Korea's nuclear program.News of North Korea's first nuclear weapon test on October 9, 2006, made headlines around the globe. However, perhaps no five countries took such a keen interest in the issue as the United States, China, South Korea, Japan, and Russia- the nations involved in the six-party talks with North Korea, aimed at the negotiation of a peaceful solution. The underground explosion of the Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Facility in the North Hamgyong Province of North Korea was a sensational global news media issue. This article examines how native-l anguage print media from the United States, China, South Korea, Japan, and Russia presented the news of North Korea's nuclear weapon testing to their primarily domestic audiences; the news frames employed by each; and the differences in the cross-national media coverage of this single news event. Within the frame analysis, this study used war journalism and peace journalism as two competing frames in the news coverage of the first nuclear test conducted by North Korea.Media coverage of the North Korean nuclear crisis has received little attention from media scholars. In a peripheral study of media involvement in the issue, Jiang examined cross-cultural differences in U.S. and Chinese press conferences on the test.3 However, published academic research about the news coverage of the crisis is sparse. Academic inquiry into how the U.S., Chinese, South Korean, Japanese, and Russian media relayed information about an event of great national and tional to their respective audiences as well as identifying and analyzing analyzing differences in that coverage would benefit not only mass communication scholars and framing theorists, but also those engaged in diplomatic, political, or sociological endeavors in those countries. This study will begin to fill the gap in the available analysis of news coverage of the North Korean nuclear crisis, add to the body of media framing literature, and examine how each country's native news media content may have influenced how its respective audiences understood North Korea's nuclear test.News Coverage of International IssuesStudies about international news coverage have focused on the differences in the domestic coverage of international news events such as the news media coverage on the two cases of planes being shot down, the Korean Airlines Flight 007 by the Soviet Air Force and the Iran Air Flight 655 by the U.S. Navy,4 the 1991 Persian Gulf War,5 the 1994 South African elections,6 U.N. conferences,7 and the 2003 U.S.-led invasion and occupation of Iraq.8 Other studies, though to a lesser degree, have examined cross-national and cross-cultural news coverage of various international events and issues, including the 1971 Sri Lankan uprising,9 diplomatic relations between the United States and Europe,10 the 1991 Persian Gulf War,11 the post-Cold War environment in the United States and China,12 and the Kwangju and Tiananmen pro- democracy movements.13Such cross-national and cross-cultural news analysis has only recently been thrust into the forefront of domestic mass communication research. The September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on U.S. soil demonstrated the danger of international ignorance and cross-cultural misconceptions and led to a surge in U. …