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''The Hankyoreh'' () is a
centre-left Centre-left politics is the range of left-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. Ideologies commonly associated with it include social democracy, social liberalism, progressivism, and green politics. Ideas commo ...
liberal daily newspaper in
South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...
. It was established in 1988 after widespread purges forced out dissident journalists, and was envisioned as an alternative to existing newspapers, which were regarded as unduly influenced by the authoritarian government at the time. When it launched, it claimed to be "the first newspaper in the world truly independent of political power and large capital." As of 2016, it has been voted as the most trusted news organization by Korean journalists for nine consecutive years but is also the least influential news outlet by the survey. It has online editions in English, Chinese, and
Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...
.


History

The newspaper was originally established as ''Hankyoreh Shinmun'' () on 15 May 1988 by ex-journalists from '' The Dong-A Ilbo'' and ''
The Chosun Ilbo ''The Chosun Ilbo'' (, ), also known as ''The Chosun Daily,'' is a Korean-language newspaper of record for South Korea and among the oldest active newspapers in the country. With a daily circulation of more than 1,800,000, ''The'' ''Chosun Ilbo ...
''. At the time, government censors were in every newsroom, newspaper content was virtually dictated by the Ministry of Culture and Information, and newspapers had nearly the same articles on every page. ''The Hankyoreh'' was intended to provide an independent, left-leaning and liberal-
nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...
alternative to mainstream newspapers regarded as blindly pro-business and opposed to national reunification. To underscore its patriotism and its break with tradition, ''The Hankyoreh'' became the first daily to completely reject the use of
Hanja Hanja (; ), alternatively spelled Hancha, are Chinese characters used to write the Korean language. After characters were introduced to Korea to write Literary Chinese, they were adapted to write Korean as early as the Gojoseon period. () ...
and use only
Hangul The Korean alphabet is the modern writing system for the Korean language. In North Korea, the alphabet is known as (), and in South Korea, it is known as (). The letters for the five basic consonants reflect the shape of the speech organs ...
; it continues to make only limited use of the
Latin alphabet The Latin alphabet, also known as the Roman alphabet, is the collection of letters originally used by the Ancient Rome, ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered except several letters splitting—i.e. from , and from ...
and limits the use of
loanword A loanword (also a loan word, loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language (the recipient or target language), through the process of borrowing. Borrowing is a metaphorical term t ...
s. It was also the first newspaper in Korea to be printed horizontally instead of vertically.


Stances on political issues


Between nationalism and internationalism

''The Hankyoreh'' is the most critical of
Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
among major South Korean media outlets. On October 7, 2016, it published article arguing that South Korea's anti-Japanese and Japan's anti-Korean sentiments were completely different, and that it was wrong to conflate the two. In particular, the newspaper argues that Korea's anti-Japan does not lead to hate crimes against the Japanese, and is a legitimate emotion of the country. However, the newspaper has criticized xenophobia against the Japanese living in Korea conservative media. '' The Hankyoreh'' is known as the most
pro-European Pro-Europeanism, sometimes called European Unionism, is a political position that favours European integration and membership of the European Union (EU).Krisztina Arató, Petr Kaniok (editors). ''Euroscepticism and European Integration''. Pol ...
media in South Korea. When Britain decided on
Brexit Brexit (, a portmanteau of "Britain" and "Exit") was the Withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU). Brexit officially took place at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February ...
, ''The Hankyoreh'' criticized Britain's move. On the conflictual nature of the territorial sovereignty of the
Liancourt Rocks The Liancourt Rocks, known in Korea as Dokdo () and in Japan as Takeshima (), are a group of islets in the Sea of Japan between the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese archipelago administered by South Korea. The Liancourt Rocks comprise two ...
(''Dokdo'' in Korean, ''Takeshima'' in Japanese), although exceeded by ''The Chosun Ilbo'' in its coverage, ''The'' ''Hankyoreh'' coverage has been described in "A Comparative Analysis of News Coverage of Dokdo Island" by Yoon Youngchul and E. Gwangho as reflecting the foreign policy interest of South Korea versus Japan. In line with the newspaper's nationalism and aspirations for reunification, its reporting of inter-Korean and East Asian affairs is based on its editorial policy seeking reconciliation, stability and peaceful co-prosperity through dialogue rather than pressure on the
government of North Korea A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...
. In terms of national affairs,
Cheongwadae Cheong Wa Dae (), also known as the Blue House in English, is a public park that was the former executive office and residence of the president of South Korea. Located in Seoul's Jongno District, directly behind Gyeongbokgung Palace, it se ...
, Office of the President, studies on the editorial policies of South Korean newspapers have found that ''The'' ''Hankyoreh'', which published its first issue early in the Roh Tae-woo administration, has shown little fluctuation from administration to administration. ''The'' ''Hankyoreh'' also runs a "Hankyoreh Foundation for Reunification and Culture" as a forum for advocacy of peace and reunification on the Korean peninsula. Notwithstanding the newspaper's support for democracy, human rights, and free speech in South Korea, in June 2009, ''The'' ''Hankyoreh'' described the arrest and imprisonment of two US journalists in North Korea, condemned by
Reporters Without Borders Reporters Without Borders (RWB; ; RSF) is an international non-profit and non-governmental organisation, non-governmental organization headquartered in Paris, which focuses on safeguarding the right to freedom of information. It describes its a ...
, as a sham trial, as a "not entirely negative signal" of North Korea's openness to communicate.


Liberalism and supporting human rights

Other legacies of its early dissident history include a strong emphasis on human rights in South Korea, a position it continues to hold today together with several international organizations have criticized South Korea for its retreat in democracy, human rights and press freedom. '' The Hankyoreh'' advocacy of human rights also extends to
North Koreans The demographics of North Korea are determined through national censuses and international estimates. The Central Bureau of Statistics of North Korea conducted the most recent census in 2008, where the population reached 24 million inhabitants ...
and tends to support normalization of relations with the U.S. and have been critical of approaches towards improving the situation by encouraging system collapse such as the Lefkowitz approach and absorption by South Korea or by encouraging defections. ''The Hankyoreh'' opposes censorship and wiretapping and encourages active debate on news that is circulated, and like many newspapers in South Korea, is opposed to circulation of graphic news content and took a strong stance in the instance of the video footage of
Kim Sun-il Kim Sun-il (; 13 September 1970 – ) was a South Korean interpreter and Christian missionary who was kidnapped and murdered by decapitation in Iraq. Early life and education Kim was born into a poor family and his biological mother died when ...
's death in Iraq. It strongly endorsed the 2008 "mad cow protests" as a victory for "substantive democracy" over merely "procedural democracy." It strongly encouraged coverage of the 2008 demonstrations and a greater understanding of "candlelight spirit" that academics are referring to as an emergence of a new social movement and form of democracy in South Korea that protests policy development on trade, liberalization of public education, the privatization of health, and the environmental consequences of a cross-country canal project without substantial public opinion gathering. ''The Hankyoreh'' has campaigned for higher standards of ethics in journalism since its founding and had initiated a campaign against journalists' taking bribes, which had been customary in the industry in South Korea until the late 1990s. ''The Hankyoreh'' has a fairly favorable view of
feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...
,
LGBT rights Rights affecting lesbian, Gay men, gay, Bisexuality, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the Capital punishmen ...
, opposes discrimination against ethnic minorities and supports
political correctness "Political correctness" (adjectivally "politically correct"; commonly abbreviated to P.C.) is a term used to describe language, policies, or measures that are intended to avoid offense or disadvantage to members of particular groups in society. ...
. However, some editorials criticized political correctness. ''The Hankyoreh'' shows a favorable tone for the
Democratic Party of Korea Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...
, but opposes their somewhat socially conservative approach to LGBT rights.


Economic and labor propensity

''The Hankyoreh'' has been critical of Korean big business and conglomerates that overwhelm the market, the Korean university entrance system, widening income disparities in Korean society, while maintaining a generally favorable attitude towards organized labor, and the redistribution of income. ''The Hankyoreh'' supported
protectionism Protectionism, sometimes referred to as trade protectionism, is the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulations ...
in the early days of its foundation, but now it is closer to the tone of support for
free trade Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold Economic liberalism, economically liberal positions, while economic nationalist politica ...
. ''The Hankyoreh'' described
Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...
's protectionist policy in 2022 negatively, referring to the reactions of experts and European countries, and pointed out that it was "
economic nationalism Economic nationalism or nationalist economics is an ideology that prioritizes state intervention in the economy, including policies like domestic control and the use of tariffs and restrictions on labor, goods, and capital movement. The core bel ...
" (경제적 민족주의) similar to
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
's. ''The Hankyoreh'' departed from established convention by relying more on sales, periodic private donation campaigns, and the sale of stock, rather than advertising from major corporations to sustain itself. The newspaper currently has more than 60,000 citizen shareholders, none of whom have a more than one percent share. Core shareholders include students, professors, lawyers, writers, liberals and urban industrial workers. The company remains intentionally unlisted to avoid hostile takeover; it has also never shown three consecutive years of profit, one of the requirements for listing. Readership of the newspaper is evenly distributed between provinces and the major metropolitan areas, of which 63.2% were in their twenties and thirties, and 44.5% were college graduates. ''The Hankyoreh'' readership is mostly of low to middle class income.


Criticism of mainstream conservatism

After three decades in print, Its circulation of about 600,000 readers, puts it at one third the size of any of the three major dailies ( The ''Chosun Ilbo'', ''
JoongAng Ilbo ''The JoongAng'', formerly known as ''JoongAng Ilbo'' (), is a South Korean daily newspaper published in Seoul, South Korea. It is one of the three biggest newspapers in South Korea, and a newspaper of record for South Korea. The paper also pu ...
'', and '' The Dong-a Ilbo''), though still ahead of specialist economic dailies. It is the fourth largest newspaper in Korea. ''The Hankyoreh'' editorial content consists of strident criticism of the three major newspapers. It has also endorsed boycott campaigns of companies that advertise in its competitors. In 2009, ''The Hankyoreh'' joined
Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...
, the Broadcaster Producers Association of Korea, and other civic groups in expressing concern over the atypical behavior exhibited by prosecutors in the detention of Korean TV channel MBC journalists and the attack on press freedom in South Korea. Although there has been controversy over distortions in MBC's reporting on US beef imports, the arrest of journalists and the continued persecution of the press have been primary concerns for ''The Hankyoreh'' and other international journalist organizations.


Climate and environmental stances

In April 2020, ''The Hankyoreh'' became the first mainstream paper in Korea to establish a newsroom team dedicated to climate change. The climate section is called "ClimateChange&" and covers topics such as
nuclear power Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced by ...
, environmental and ecological destruction, endangered and at-risk species, and green pledges. The paper has been critical of
nuclear power Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced by ...
for safety concerns, and has published multiple editorials condemning Japan for its plans to release treated water from the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe into the ocean. The paper's series "Climate Crisis and Human Rights" earned it the Journalists Association of Korea and
National Human Rights Commission of Korea The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (abbreviated to NHRCK; ) is the independent commission for protecting, advocating and promoting human rights in South Korea. This commission, by law, is guaranteed the independent status regarding al ...
's 11th annual "Human Rights Reporting Prize" in 2022, with the selection committee stating it had "highly appraised the series' on-the-ground coverage of lives uprooted by climate change, which shows that the climate crisis is ultimately an issue of inequality and justice, and its ability to unravel the climate crisis from the perspective of human rights."


Other

In 2014, it partnered with a comic artists union, Toonion, to create a global creative content company called RollingStory, which launched an online sharing platform,
Spottoon Spottoon is a webtoon Webtoons () are a type of episodic digital comics that originated in South Korea usually meant to be read on smartphones A smartphone is a mobile phone with advanced computing capabilities. It typically has a ...
, for South Korean digital comics in 2015.


Hankyoreh Media Group

* ''
Cine 21 ''Cine21'' is a South Korean film magazine published by ''The Hankyoreh'' newspaper. The magazine was first published on 24 April 1995 in Seoul, and subsequent issues have continued to be released weekly. The first editor-in-chief An editor-in ...
'' * '' HuffPost Korea'' (joint venture with HuffPost News, a division of
BuzzFeed BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American Internet mass media, media, news and entertainment company with a focus on digital media. Based in New York City, BuzzFeed was founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John Seward Johnson III, John S. Johnson III to ...
) * Hankyoreh Education * Hankyoreh Book Publishing (''HaniBook'')


See also

* Media of South Korea *
Liberalism in South Korea This article gives an overview of liberalism and its related history in South Korea. It is limited to liberal parties with substantial support and representation in the National Assembly. Historically, liberalism in South Korea emerged as an ...
*
List of newspapers in South Korea This is a list of newspapers in South Korea. National papers Top 10 Comprehensive Daily newspapers *The Chosun Ilbo (daily) 1,212,208 *The Dong-A Ilbo (daily) 925,919 *JoongAng Ilbo (daily) 861,984 *''Hankook Ilbo'' (daily) 219,672 *''Hanky ...
*
Culture of South Korea The contemporary culture of South Korea developed from the traditional culture of Korea which was prevalent in the early Korean nomadic tribes. By maintaining thousands of years of ancient Korean culture, with influence from ancient Chinese cultu ...
*
Democratic Party of Korea Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...
*
Justice Party (South Korea) The Democratic Labor Party (DLP; ) is a Centre-left politics, centre-left to Left-wing politics, left-wing political party in South Korea. It has been described as Liberalism in South Korea, liberal and Progressivism in South Korea, progre ...
*
Korean nationalism Korean nationalism can be viewed in two different contexts. One encompasses various movements throughout history to maintain a Korean cultural identity, history, and ethnicity (or "race"). This ethnic nationalism was mainly forged in opposition ...
*
386 Generation The 386 Generation () is the generation of South Koreans born in the 1960s who were very active politically as young adults, and instrumental in the democracy movement of the 1980s. The 386 Generation takes a critical view of the United States and ...
* Gangnam leftist


References


External links

*
About ''Hankyoreh''

International edition (web only)Homepage of ''Cine21'', film weekly by ''Hankyoreh''

Homepage of ''Hankyoreh21'', weekly newsmagazine

Homepage of ''Economy21'', business weekly
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hankyoreh, The 1988 establishments in South Korea Centre-left newspapers Korean-language newspapers Korean nationalist organizations Left-wing nationalism in South Korea Liberal media in South Korea Liberalism in South Korea Mapo District Newspapers published in Seoul Nationalist newspapers Daily newspapers published in South Korea Newspapers established in 1988 Social liberalism