Mass Media in South Korea
The South Korean mass media consist of several different types of public communication of news: television,
radio, cinema,
newspapers, magazines, and Internet-based websites. Modern Korean journalism began after the opening of Korea
in
the late
19th century. The Korean press had a strong reformist and nationalistic flavour from the beginning, but faced
efforts
at political control or outright censorship during most of the 20th century.
History
Colonial Period (1910–1945)
When the Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty was signed in 1910, the Governor-General of Korea assumed direct
control
of the
press along with other public institutions. Following the March 1st Movement in 1919, the colonial government
loosened
their overt control over cultural activities and permitted several Korean newspapers to function while
maintaining some
behind-the-scenes direction over politically sensitive topics. During the 1920s, Korean vernacular newspapers,
such as
Donga Ilbo, and intellectual journals such as Kaebyok (Creation), conducted running skirmishes with Japanese
censors.
Colonial authorities prohibited sales of individual issues on hundreds of occasions between 1926 and 1932.
World
War II
mobilisation in the ensuing years ended any resemblance of autonomy for the Korean press; all Korean-language
publications
were outlawed in 1941.
After World War II (1945–1990)
Following the period of 1945 to 1948, which saw a burgeoning of newspapers and periodicals of every
description
as well
as occasional censorship of the media, almost all subsequent South Korean governments have at times attempted
to
control
the media. Syngman Rhee's government continued the military government's Ordinance Number Eighty-Eight, which
outlawed
leftist newspapers. Rhee also closed moderate newspapers and arrested reporters and publishers on numerous
occasions between
1948 and 1960. On taking power in 1961, Park Chung-hee's Supreme Council for National Reconstruction closed
all
but fifteen
of Seoul's 64 daily newspapers and refused to register a comparable percentage of the country's news services,
weeklies,
and monthly publications while using its own radio and news agencies to promote its official line. The Park
government
also used the Press Ethics Commission Law of 1964 and, after 1972, emergency decrees that penalised criticism
of
the government
to keep the media in line. In 1974, the government ordered a number of journalists fired and used the KCIA to
force Dong-a
Ilbo to stop its reporting on popular opposition to the Park government by intimidating the paper's
advertisers.
During
the Park and the subsequent Chun Doo-hwan administrations, the government exercised considerable control and
surveillance
over the media through the comprehensive National Security Act. In late 1980, the Chun government established
more thorough
control of the news media than had existed in the South Korea since the Korean War. Independent news agencies
were absorbed
into a single state-run agency, numerous provincial newspapers were closed, central newspapers were forbidden
to
station
correspondents in provincial cities, the Christian Broadcasting System network was forbidden to provide news
coverage,
and two independent broadcasting companies were absorbed into the state-run Korean Broadcasting System (KBS).
In
addition,
the Defense Security Command, then commanded by Roh Tae Woo, and the Ministry of Culture and Information
ordered
hundreds
of South Korean journalists fired and banned from newspaper writing or editing. The Basic Press Act of
December
1980 was
the legal capstone of Chun's system of media control and provided for censorship and control of newspapers,
periodicals,
and broadcast media. It also set the professional qualifications for journalists.
Media censorship was
coordinated with
intelligence officials, representatives of various government agencies, and the presidential staff by the
Office
of Public
Information Policy within the Ministry of Culture and Information using daily "reporting guidelines" sent to
newspaper
editors. The guidelines dealt exhaustively with questions of emphasis, topics to be covered or avoided, the
use
of government
press releases, and even the size of headlines. Enforcement methods ranged from telephone calls to editors to
more serious
forms of intimidation, including interrogations and beatings by police. One former Ministry of Culture and
Information
official told a National Assembly hearing in 1988 that compliance during his tenure from 1980 to 1982 reached
about 70
per cent. By the mid-1980s, censorship of print and broadcast media had become one of the most widely and
publicly criticised
practices of the Chun government. Even the government-controlled Yonhap News Agency noted in 1989 that "TV
companies,
scarcely worse than other media, were the main target of bitter public criticism for their distorted reporting
for the
government in the early 1980s." Editorials called for abolition of the Basic Press Act and related practices,
a
bill was
unsuccessfully introduced in the National Assembly to the same end, and a public campaign to withhold
compulsory
viewers'
fees in protest against censorship by the KBS network received widespread press attention. By the summer of
1986, even
the ruling party was responding to public opinion. The political liberalization of the late 1980s brought a
loosening
of press restraints and a new generation of journalists more willing to investigate sensitive subjects, such
as
the May
1980 Gwangju massacre. Roh's eight-point declaration of June 29, 1987, provided for "a free press, including
allowing
newspapers to base correspondents in provincial cities and withdrawing security officials from newspaper
offices." The
South Korean media began a rapid expansion. Seoul papers expanded their coverage and resumed the practice of
stationing
correspondents in provincial cities. Although temporarily still under the management of a former Blue House
press spokesman,
the MBC television network, a commercial network that had been under control of the state-managed KBS since
1980, resumed
independent broadcasting.
The number of radio broadcast stations grew from 74 in 1985 to 111 (including
both
AM
and FM
stations) by late 1988 and 125 by late 1989. The number of periodicals rose as the government removed
restrictions on
the publishing industry. There also were qualitative changes in the South Korean media. The Christian
Broadcasting System,
a radio network, again began to broadcast news as well as religious programming in 1987. In the same year, the
government
partially lifted a long-standing ban on the works of North Korean artists and musicians, many of whom were of
South Korean
origin. A newspaper run by dissident journalists began publication in 1988. A number of other new dailies also
appeared
in 1988. Many of the new weekly and monthly periodicals bypassed the higher profits of the traditional general
circulation
magazines to provide careful analyses of political, economic, and national security affairs to smaller,
specialised audiences.
Observers noted a dramatic increase in press coverage of previously taboo subjects such as political- military
relations,
factions within the military, the role of security agencies in politics, and the activities of dissident
organisations.
Opinion polls dealing with these and other sensitive issues also began to appear with increasing regularity.
Journalists
at several of the Seoul dailies organised trade unions in late 1987 and early 1988 and began to press for
editorial autonomy
and a greater role in newspaper management. In 1989, South Korea's four largest dailies, Hankook Ilbo,
Joongang
Ilbo,
Chosun Ilbo, and Donga Ilbo, had a combined circulation of more than 6.5 million. The anti-establishment The
Hankyoreh,
had 450,000 readers – less than the major dailies or smaller papers like Kyonghan Shinmun or Seoul Shinmun,
but
larger
than four more specialised economic dailies. All the major dailies were privately owned, except for the
government-controlled
Hankook Ilbo. Several other daily publications had specialised readerships among sport fans and youth. Two
English-language
newspapers, the government-subsidised Korea Herald and the Korea Times, which was affiliated with the
independent Soul
simmun, were widely read by foreign embassies and businesses. A Chinese-language daily served South Korea's
small Chinese
population. The Yonhap News Agency provided domestic and foreign news to government agencies, newspapers, and
broadcasters.
Yonhap also provided news on South Korean developments in English by computerised transmission via the
Asia-Pacific News
Network.
Additional links with world media were facilitated by four satellite link stations. The
International
Broadcast
Centre established in June 1988 served some 10,000 broadcasters for the 1988 Seoul Olympics. The government's
KBS radio
network broadcast overseas in twelve languages. Two private radio networks, the Asia Broadcasting Company and
Far East
Broadcasting Company, served a wide regional audience that included the Soviet Far East, China, and Japan. The
South Korean
government also supported Naewoe Press, which dealt solely with North Korean affairs. Originally a propaganda
vehicle
that followed the government line on unification policy issues, Naewoe Press became increasingly objective and
moderate
in tone in the mid-1980s in interpreting political, social, and economic developments in North Korea. Vantage
Point, an
English-language publication of Naewoe Press, provided in-depth studies of North Korean social, economic, and
political
developments. Except for two newspapers (one in Korean and one in English) that the government owned or
controlled and
the state television network, ownership of the media was for the most part distinct from political or economic
power.
One exception was the conservative daily, Joongang Ilbo. Under the close oversight of its owner, the late
Samsung Group
founder and multimillionaire Lee Byung-chul, the paper and its affiliated TBC television network generally
supported the
Park government during the 1970s. Its relations with the government became strained after 1980, however, when
Chun Doo
Hwan forced TBC to merge with KBS. A journalists' strike at Joongang Ilbo in 1989, in one of many similar
incidents at
the major South Korean newspapers, won even greater management and editorial independence. Most of South
Korea's
major
newspapers derived their financial support from advertising and from their affiliation with major publishing
houses.
The
Donga Press, for example, published not only the prestigious daily Donga Ilbo, but also a variety of other
periodicals,
including a newspaper for children, the general circulation monthly Shin Donga, a women's magazine, and
specialized reference
books and magazines for students. Throughout the post-war period, the Donga Ilbo has been noted for its
opposition sympathies.
South Korea's principal anti-establishment newspaper, The Hankyoreh, began publication in May 1988. It was
founded by
dissident journalists who were purged by the government in the early 1970s or in 1980; many of the paper's
reporters and
editorial staff left positions on mainstream newspapers to join the new venture. The structure and approach of
the paper
reflected the founders' view that in the past the South Korean news media had been too easily co-opted by the
government.
The paper had a human rights department as well as a mass media department to keep an eye on the government's
press policy
and to critique the ideological and political biases of other newspapers. The paper's nationalism and interest
in national
reunification were symbolically represented in the logo, which depicted Lake Cheonji at the peak of Baekdu
Mountain in
North Korea; in the exclusive use of the Korean alphabet; and in the type font in which the paper's name was
printed,
which dated from a famous Korean publication of the eighteenth century, before the country became divided. The
paper was
printed horizontally, rather than vertically like other Seoul dailies. In other innovations, The Hankyoreh
relied on sales
revenues, private contributions, and the sale of stock, rather than advertising from major corporations, in
line
with
its claim to be "the first newspaper in the world truly independent of political power and large capital." The
newspaper
came under increasing government pressures in 1989. South Korea also had extensive and well-developed visual
media. The
first Korean film was produced in 1919, and cinemas subsequently were built in the larger cities. The result
of
the spread
of television sets and radios was the dissemination of a homogenised popular culture and the impingement of
urban values
on rural communities.
Current Status (1990–today)
After decades of state control and heavy censorship, the South Korean press (in print, on television, and
online) is
experiencing a period of relative freedom. However, the repressive Basic Press Law was repealed in 1987, and
since 1990
the television market has expanded significantly. Whereas in 1980 there were only 28 national newspapers,
today
there
are 122. In 2002, satellite broadcasting brought multi-channel commercial television to homes across South
Korea. According
to most outside observers, political discourse is unrestricted in South Korea; however, persistent concerns
are
worth
noting. The National Security Law allows the government to limit the expression of ideas deemed pro-North
Korean
or communist;
broad interpretations of this statute place a chill on peaceful dissent. In addition, in 2003, President Roh
Moo-Hyun
brought a libel suit against four of the major national newspapers, and the government has stated that
editorials are
subject to legal action if they are found to contain falsehoods. Outside observers have criticised pressure
tactics used
by both the South Korean government and the business community to influence reporting. Major newspapers
include
Chosun
Ilbo, Donga Ilbo, Joongang Ilbo, and Hankook Ilbo, all published in Seoul. The five nationwide television
networks are
KBS-1 and KBS-2 (public broadcast), MBC (run as a public organization), EBS (state-funded), and SBS (a
commercial broadcaster).
Some 70 percent of South Korean households have broadband Internet access, and the online media marketplace is
growing
rapidly. Popular news Web sites (such as OhMyNews.com) register as many as 15 million visits per day. Today,
much of the
news in South Korea is delivered through electronic means and the country is at the leading edge of the
digital
revolution
and a trailblazer for high-speed and wireless internet services.