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What was the first newspaper in Korea?
One of the first newspapers published in Korea, the Hansung Sunbo was founded in the Joseon era to “enlighten people and denounce absurd Joseon officials.” After it was closed by Syngman Rhee’s government, it began republishing in 1948 and became an official newspaper.
After the military junta fell in 1987, the press enjoyed a period of greater freedom. The repressive Basic Press Law was repealed and satellite broadcasting allowed the emergence of new television channels. Journalists at several of the Seoul dailies organized trade unions and began pressing for editorial autonomy and a more significant role in newspaper management.
The Hankyoreh, which was founded in 1988 by dissident journalists who had been purged from mainstream newspapers, established itself as the principal anti-establishment newspaper. Its structure and approach were designed to avoid being co-opted by the government; it included a human rights department and a mass media department that kept tabs on government press policy and critiqued the ideological and political biases of other newspapers.
In recent years, a number of smaller, more specialized publications have emerged to bypass the higher profits of general circulation periodicals and provide careful analyses of political, economic and national security affairs for a narrower audience. However, while much of the political discourse in the media is free and open, some observers have noted that the national security law’s broad interpretations place a damper on peaceful dissent.