Korean Press Research Articles

Press laws in North Korea

The press in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) is closely tied to its communist sociopolitical structures. The North Korean press finds its modus operandi in the ‘Soviet Communist’ theory for its relationship with its government. This study examines the press laws and regulations in North Korea, pursuing three questions: (1) What is the status of the press as a sociopolitical institution in North Korea?; (2) What is the constitutional and statutory scheme relating to press freedom in North Korea?; and (3) What is the impact of the statutory mechanisms on the press in North Korea? The press and other mass media in North Korea are totally controlled by the Korean Worker's Party. No dissenting voice is permitted in the news media. North Korea recognizes freedom of the press as a Constitutional right of their citizens. Nevertheless, there is a considerable disparity between the constitutional guarantee of press freedom and its practical application. In the name of ‘collective good’ as de...

Lee v. Dong-A Ilbo

In 1985 two intelligence agencies of the South Korean Government announced that they had successfully disrupted a North Korean spy ring operating in the United States. Their press release, which was widely publicized in the Korean press, named Chang-Sin Lee as a North Korean agent associated with a spy ring at Western Illinois University, where Lee had been a student. The story was picked up and reported in the United States by six Korean-American newspapers and a public television station. When Lee sued for libel, the defendants relied upon the official report privilege, which gives absolute protection to the accurate republication of official government reports. The district court, holding that the privilege applied and that Lee had not overcome it by showing malice, dismissed the case. Plaintiff appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which in a two to one decision reversed (per Ervin, J.) and held: that the official report privilege does not apply to the republication of official reports of foreign governments. Judge Kaufman, sitting by designation, dissented from the majority’s reversal of the district court’s grant of summary judgment.

News of terrorism: A comparison of the U.S. and South Korean press

This study compared U.S. and South Korean newspaper coverage of the November 1987 crash of Korean Airlines (KAL) flight 858 over the Thai‐Burma border. Comparisons were made before and after evidence of North Korean terrorist involvement in the crash was uncovered. The findings did not suggest evidence supporting the notion that the press plays up or sensationalizes reports of terrorism with little or no evidence. Even though the U.S. and South Korean press were aware of rumors of North Korean terrorist involvement in the crash before evidence of North Korean involvement was available, the press of both nations did not stress the terrorist angle or North Korean involvement until after evidence supporting North Korean terrorism was uncovered. It was also found that South Korean public officials exercised at least a degree of agenda control in directing press coverage to stress North Korean involvement in the crash. Language: en

Kim Chong-il’s guidance activities as mirrored in the recent North Korean press

We have made a brief review of Kim Chong-il’s guidance activities as disclosed by North Korean media. The media may be overstating or fabricating facts of promote the personality cult of the young Kim. However, they reveal that Kim Chong-il exerts his best efforts to safe-guard his father’s revolutionary thought and that this is consistent with the elder Kim’s wishes. In his programs focused on his father’s wishes is found his intent to brave anything in order to get his father’s full support in the course of establishing his own unchallengeable leadership.

A comparative study of the Korean Press Ethics commission and the British Press Council

A comparative study of the Korean Press Ethics commission and the British Press Council

The Korean Press After Park

The Korean Press After Park

An Jū-Kon to Nik-Kan kankeishi [An Chung-gŭn and the History of Japanese-Korean Relations] (review)

BOOK REVIEWS143 An Ju-Kon to Nik-Kan kankeishi [An Chung-gún and the History of Japanese-Korean Relations]. By Ichikawa Seimei. Tokyo: Hara Shobö, 1979. 675 pp. ¥5,000. In April 1979, the chief of staff of the Japanese Land Self-Defense Forces visited South Korea, and the Korean-Japanese Parliamentary Conference on Security Affairs was established. In July, the Director-General of the Japanese Defense Agency paid his first official visit. There is no doubt that Japanese-South Korean relations entered a new epoch. Japanese companies already own 58 percent of all foreign equity in South Korea, and South Korea is heavily dependent upon Japanese trade. In spite of such close ties between Japan and South Korea, the two peoples have yet to resolve the emotional conflicts that have persisted since Japan forced the opening of the hermit kingdom in 1876. The interaction between Japan and South Korea since the two nations "normalized" their relations in 1965 has been predominantly economic in character. Intellectual and cultural exchanges have been sporadic and formal. While a great number of Japanese tourists and businessmen have visited South Korea, the contacts between the two peoples have been superficial at best. The two peoples have yet to "touch their hearts." The Koreans could very well sympathize with Mao Tse-tung and Chou En-lai who took strong exception to Premier Tanaka's comment in Peking that Japan had caused "inconveniences" to China in the 1930s and 1940s. Examples abound. In March 1979, the head of the Japanese Federation of Managerial Organizations (Nihon Keieisha Dantai Rengökai), Sakurada, caused a major incident at an international seminar by stating that the phenomenal growth of the South Korean economy was due to excellent education provided during the Japanese colonial period. The unanimous reaction of the Korean press was that of anger. They recalled that in March 1955 Kubota Kanichirö, the head of the Japanese delegation in the Korean-Japanese negotiations for the normalization of relations, had stated that the establishment of a former colony as an independent nation before the signing of a treaty of peace was rather unusual; that the United States should be criticized for enforcing complete repatriation of Japanese residents from Korea before a treaty of peace had been concluded; that the Japanese administration of Korea was not altogether bad, and that much was done to help the Koreans in the sense that port facilities, schools, and hospitals were built and spectacular advances were made in rice cultivation; and that the reference in the Cairo Declaration to the Korean people as being in a state of slavery was an exaggeration caused by the emotional stress of war. The Japanese government refused to rescind this so-called Kubota statement for two years in spite of the violent reaction of the Korean government. Both of these remarks have been characterized in Korea as "mangön" (bögen in Japanese) or reckless remarks. These "incidents" of recent years are worth noting because very similar types of emotional conflict and differences of opinion prevailed in 1909 when Count Ito Hirobumi was assassinated by An Chung-gün in Harbin. Ito and his 144ICHIKAWA colleagues undoubtedly believed that the Japanese policy of placing Korea under its control was justified for the sakes of both Japan and Korea. Since the early 1890s, Japan had striven without avail to encourage the Korean government to reform itself in order to put the latter on firmer political, economic, and diplomatic grounds. Only by annexing Korea could Korea be reformed and the stability of East Asia be assured. Recalcitrant Koreans, a group including that nation's emperor, should be disposed of for the good of Korea. The Korean reaction to Japanese policy, however, was quite the opposite. Many Koreans had supported Japan's war efforts against Russia between 1904 and 1905, because of the Japanese declaration that the war was to assure peace in Asia and to consolidate Korea's independence. For racial and cultural reasons, the Koreans also preferred Japan over Russia. Various remarks of An Chungg ün to his interrogators also indicate that the Koreans were resigned to Japanese "protection" of Korea in the wake of the Japanese victory against...

Newspapers Under Tribulation: the Present-Day Korean Press?

Newspapers Under Tribulation: the Present-Day Korean Press?

The Japan-Korea Normalization Process and Korean Anti-Americanism

After a series of political struggles in Japan and Korea which led to violent student demonstrations in both countries, South Korean Foreign Minister, Dong Won Lee, and Japanese Foreign Minister, Etsusaburo Shiina met in Seoul on December 18 of last year and exchanged documents marking the successful ratification of the Japan-South Korea Treaty and Agreements. American interest in and support of the normalization of relations between the two countries did not strengthen positive popular feeling towards the United States in Korea. Observers of the Seoul 1965 student demonstrations in opposition to the normalization of relations Japan made note of a persistent anti-American tone. Probably the clearest indication of such undercurrents came in June of 1965, when, in a demonstration by about 3,000 students of Korea University protesting the signing of rapprochement treaties between Korea and Japan, a slogan appeared reading, Yankee, Keep Silent! Although this was one of the most overt expressions of anti-Americanism existing in student demonstrations in Korea, certainly criticisms of the United States, possibly staging the groundwork for student expression, can be found in the Korean press of recent years. In January of 1965, for example, an article appearing in the Hanguk Ilbo noted that the New Year was that of the Serpent, marking the sixty year cycle of the lunar calendar and the anniversary of the year that Japan imposed a protectorate treaty on Korea with the connivance of the U.S. and Britain.* The article then said:

The Korean Press and Public Opinion about Japan

By passing news about Japan through a historical “filter” that is charged with emotion, Korean newspapers make it more difficult for relations between the two countries to be normalized.