''Korean News'' () was a South Korean government news program that was displayed in movie theaters between 1953 and 1994. Its 2040th program, which aired on December 31, 1994, was its last one. The program went by a number of names over its history. A predecessor to this program, ''Korean Newsreel'' (), ran between 1945 and 1948. Another predecessor, the ''Korea Forward News'' (), ran between 1948 and 1953. The program was created as ''Korean News'' () in 1953, although it went on to use several alternate

transliterations Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one script to another that involves swapping letters (thus '' trans-'' + '' liter-'') in predictable ways, such as Greek → and → the digraph , Cyrillic → , Armenian → or L ...

of the word "news" over the years (, , and finally ). For several months in 1980, it went by the name ''Camera Report'' (). It also produced a program for

Koreans in Japan () are ethnic Koreans who immigrated to Japan before 1945 and are citizens or permanent residents of Japan, or who are descendants of those immigrants. They are a group distinct from South Korean nationals who have immigrated to Japan since t ...

first under a similar title () and then as ''Homeland News'' (). Its role as a government news program was then assumed by cable TV channel (KTV). A private newspaper under the same name was founded in 2003, with the intention of succeeding the role of the previous news program. All episodes are available for viewing, free of charge, on the government-sponsored eHistory film archive website and on KTV's YouTube channel.

History

The program, its predecessors, and successors have their origins in a film company established in 1942, during the 1910–1945 Japanese colonial period. The company was called the . After Korea was liberated in 1945, the company began to produce the ''Korean Newsreel'' () under the

United States Army Military Government in Korea The United States Army Military Government in Korea (USAMGIK) was the official ruling body of the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula from 9 September 1945 to 15 August 1948. The country during this period was plagued with political a ...

. On November 4, 1948, shortly after the United States handed off authority to the

First Republic of Korea The First Republic of Korea () was the government of South Korea from August 1948 to June 1960. The First Republic was founded on 15 August 1948, and it became the first independent republican government in Korea. Syngman Rhee was the first p ...

, the Bureau of Public Information of the South Korean government took over production of the films, and renamed the series to ''Korea Forward News'' ().

Black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, ...

films were released monthly during this period. During the 1950–1953

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

Busan Busan (), officially Busan Metropolitan City, is South Korea's second list of cities in South Korea by population, most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.3 million as of 2024. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economi ...

served as the provisional capital of the South, and the films were produced and aired there. In January 1953, the program was renamed to roughly its current form: ''Korean News'' (). Two to three times a month,

16 mm 16 mm film is a historically popular and economical Film gauge, gauge of Photographic film, film. 16 mm refers to the width of the film (about inch); other common film gauges include 8 mm film, 8 mm and 35mm movie film, 35 mm. It ...

films were produced and displayed on mobile projectors for the army and populus, although mainly in Busan. On November 25, 1953, after the

Korean Armistice Agreement The Korean Armistice Agreement (; zh, t=韓國停戰協定 / 朝鮮停戰協定) is an armistice that brought about a cessation of hostilities of the Korean War. It was signed by United States Army Lieutenant General William Kelly Harrison Jr ...

marking the de facto end of the war, the program's Hangul title was transliterated slightly differently (). It aired its 100th episode on January 17 of that year. In December, the films were produced and shown weekly in locations across the country on 35 mm and 16 mm film. From 1961, it went by another transliteration (). It began producing some episodes in color beginning in November 1963. On December 26, 1964, it released its 500th episode. It began using

8 mm film 8 mm film is a motion picture film format in which the film strip is wide. It exists in two main versions – the original standard 8 mm film, also known as regular 8 mm, and Super 8. Although both standard 8 mm and ...

in 1970. Beginning in August 1972, all episodes were released in color. By 1974, every city, county, town, and village had access to the films. It changed the transliteration to its final form () in 1978, although between March 15 and May 30 of 1980 it went by the name ''Camera Report'' () before changing back. According to the ''

Encyclopedia of Korean Culture The ''Encyclopedia of Korean Culture'' () is a Korean-language encyclopedia published by the Academy of Korean Studies and DongBang Media Co. It was originally published as physical books from 1991 to 2001. There is now an online version of the ...

'', by the 1980s, it was seen as one-sided government propaganda, and generally dismissed. It decreased in relevance with the rise of

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 lat ...

around that time. The last episode, No. 2040, aired on December 31, 1994. It was succeeded by ''Korea TV'' (''K-TV'' or ''KTV'') in March 1995. A private newspaper by the same name was also founded on October 24, 2003, with the intention of succeeding the news program.

Overseas editions

From February 1962, an additional monthly news program was produced specifically for

. Its title can also be translated as ''Korean News'', although it had a distinct title in Korean (). Beginning with its January 23, 1970 episode, the program began to use the name ''Homeland News'' (). From 1967, it produced films in five languages for Koreans overseas.

References

External links

eHistory archive of all episodes
* {{Youtube, channel=UC8_LPVE4Yuc6KF0opF6uS_w, KTV Archive (including ''Korean News'') Defunct mass media in South Korea 1953 establishments in South Korea Documentary films about South Korea Documentary films about North Korea 1994 disestablishments in South Korea Newsreels published in Korea

History

Overseas editions

See also

References

External links