Meta-analysis on hate speech studies in South Korea

Abstract

This research approaches the past 20 years of research on hate speech in Korea from a meta-analytical perspective and analyzes their tendencies and characteristics so as to navigate the landscape of academic discourse on hate speech. It is only recently that social attention has been turned to the issue of hate speech and it seems that Korea is only now moving from the stage of introducing and explaining the foreign issues on hate speech to discussing the situation in Korea, along with the quantitative increase of research. Out of the 62 academic articles analyzed in this chapter, legal studies composes about 74%, most of which delve into the issue of regulating hate speech. In the non-legal studies area, a variety of approaches have appeared since 2015 as online hate speech has risen as a critical social problem, and misogyny is a topic of particular interest. While hate speech is now recognized as an overt harm to the society, much of the current research have difficulty in defining hate speech and providing a consistent answer on how to appropriately respond to the issue. There is a need to conduct more academic research and to develop a shared understanding in cultural and institutional aspects of hate speech in Korean society.