''The Korea Times'' () is a Korean-language newspaper published in the

Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...

. The newspaper is headquartered in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, United States. It has branch offices in various cities in the United States, as well as in Canada and Argentina.

History

The newspaper was founded on June 9, 1969 as an extension of the South Korea-based ''

Hankook Ilbo ''Hankook Ilbo'' () is a Korean-language daily newspaper in Seoul, South Korea. As of 2017, it had a daily circulation of about 213,200. It was previously published by the Hankook Ilbo Media Group, however following an embezzlement scandal i ...

''. Around this time, South Korean immigration to the United States was increasing in the wake of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, and the Jang family saw an opportunity in establishing a newspaper there for the growing Korean community. The original South Korean ''Hankook Ilbo'' was founded by journalist . Jang had five sons, all of whom became journalists who became involved with either the ''Hankook Ilbo'' or its affiliates, or who founded their own newspapers. Second son Jang Jae-gu () served as the founding president of the LA-based paper. In 1970, they began publishing a monthly magazine called ''American News'' (). In 1979, they adopted computerized typesetting. The newspaper established new branch offices around North America over the following years. In 1970, it established an office in Washington on May 1 and one in San Francisco on May 14. In 1971, it established one in Chicago on March 3, and one in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, Canada on September 1. His expansion efforts have since been evaluated as ambitious. Under his leadership, the newspaper developed the largest circulation of all newspapers published for the

Korean diaspora The Korean diaspora consists of around 7.3 million people, both descendants of early emigrants from the Korea, Korean Peninsula, as well as more recent emigrants from Korea. Around 84.5% of overseas Koreans live in just five countries: the Unit ...

. It maintained a status of prominence from its founding and into the 2000s. It established partnerships with various American newspapers, including the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' and ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

''. It moved headquarters in 1997 to Hancock Park. That year, it also began publishing its news online. Around the time of the

1997 Asian financial crisis The 1997 Asian financial crisis gripped much of East Asia, East and Southeast Asia during the late 1990s. The crisis began in Thailand in July 1997 before spreading to several other countries with a ripple effect, raising fears of a worldwide eco ...

, the Jang family's various companies encountered financial difficulties, and family relationships became visibly strained, with publicized scandals. In 2010, it established a Korea Times-Hankook Ilbo Endowed Chair in Korean American Studies position at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

. It has also hosted events on Korean culture. It moved headquarters again in 2016 on

Wilshire Boulevard Wilshire Boulevard ( wɪɫ.ʃɚ is a prominent boulevard in the Los Angeles area of Southern California, extending from Ocean Avenue (Santa Monica), Ocean Avenue in the city of Santa Monica, California, Santa Monica east to Grand Avenue (Lo ...

in the Los Angeles Koreatown.

References

External links

Official website
(in Korean)
Digital versions of the paper for purchase
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Korea Times, The Korean-American culture in California Daily newspapers published in Greater Los Angeles Non-English-language newspapers published in California Korean-language newspapers published in the United States Newspapers established in 1969