South Korean daily newspaper
The Dong-A Ilbo
(
Korean
:
東亞日報
;
lit.
East Asia Daily
) is a daily Korean-language newspaper published in South Korea. It is considered a
newspaper of record
in the country, and was founded in 1920. The paper has been a significant presence in Korean society and history, especially during the 1910?1945
Japanese colonial period
, when it championed the
Korean independence movement
.
The Dong-A Ilbo
is the parent company of Dong-a Media Group (DAMG), which is composed of 11 affiliates including Sports Dong-a, Dong-a Science, DUNet, and dongA.com, as well as
Channel A
, general service cable broadcasting company launched on 1 December 2011. It covers a variety of areas including news, drama, entertainment, sports, education, and movies.
The Dong-A Ilbo
has partnered with international news companies such as
The New York Times
of the United States,
The Asahi Shimbun
of Japan and
The People's Daily
of China. It has correspondents stationed in five major cities worldwide including Washington D.C., New York, San Francisco, Beijing, Tokyo, Cairo and Paris. It also publishes global editions in 90 cities worldwide including
New York
,
London
,
Paris
and
Frankfurt
.
History
[
edit
]
Background
[
edit
]
Many of the earliest modern Korean newspapers flourished during the early
Korean Empire
period. However, concurrently, the
Empire of Japan
was rapidly encroaching on Korean sovereignty.
[6]
Japan increasingly pressured Korean newspapers to close, and by the time of
Korea's official colonization in 1910
, only a handful were left. This included the Korean-language
Maeil Sinbo
, which was de facto operated by the
Japanese colonial government
. Colonial restrictions on the Korean press and freedom of speech were initially tight; by 1915, the last remaining Korean-owned newspaper
Gyeongnam Ilbo
was pressured to close, which left the
Maeil Sinbo
as the only Korean-language newspaper allowed in Korea.
[6]
In 1919, the nationwide
March 1st Movement
protests took Japan by surprise. The colonial government violently suppressed the protests, then began making significant policy changes to prevent future unrest.
[7]
It announced that it would allow a limited number of Korean-owned newspapers to be established.
[6]
The first three newspapers approved for publication were
The Chosun Ilbo
(established on March 5, 1920; a month before
The
Dong-a Ilbo
),
The Dong-A Ilbo
, and the pro-Japanese
Sisa Ch'ongbo
, although the latter paper would close the following year.
[6]
Founding
[
edit
]
Journalist (and later Vice President of South Korea)
Kim Seong-su
, on behalf of a staff of 78 people, successfully applied for the paper's creation.
[8]
The Dong-A Ilbo
published its first issue on April 1, 1920.
[8]
Park Yung-hyo
served as the paper's first president, and
Yang Gi-tak
and
Yu K?n
(
幼根
;
柳瑾
) as its editorial directors (
編輯監督
).
[8]
Its first editor-in-chief was
Chang Deok-soo
.
At the time of its founding, it had 23 regional offices in all but two provinces of Korea. By the end of the month, it had offices in all provinces.
The newspaper initially published four pages per issue.
[8]
It increased this to six on August 1, 1925,
to eight in September 1929, ten in September 1934, and twelve in January 1936.
[8]
During its six-page phase, it briefly published two issues per day, in the mornings and evenings, making it the first Korean newspaper to do so.
[8]
It resumed and kept this practice in November 1932.
[8]
Its pricing was initially 4
sen
per issue and 75 per month. It initially suffered financial difficulties, and raised its prices four months after its start. Despite this, by April 1924, raised enough to construct a new office building. It was completed in December 1926, and was in front of
Gwanghwamun
.
The newspaper quickly proved to be a success. The paper was highly popular as a venue for sharing foreign ideas. It soon assumed a prominent place in Korean society; employment at the newspaper came to be seen as prestigious.
According to colonial government statistics, in 1928, the newspaper had a circulation of 40,968. By contrast,
Maeil Sinbo
's circulation was 23,946,
The Chosun Ilbo
's was 18,320, and the
Chungoe Ilbo
[
ko
]
's was 15,460.
[8]
According to historian Michael Shin, it had sales of 37,802 copies by 1929, compared to 24,286 for
The Chosun Ilbo
and 23,015 for
Maeil Sinbo
.
Pro-independence advocacy
[
edit
]
Throughout the Japanese colonial period, the newspaper advocated for the rights of Koreans and for the
Korean independence movement
. On April 15, just two weeks after its first issue, it published an article about March 1st Movement?related protests in
Pyongyang
, which caused its publication to be briefly suspended.
[8]
In September 1920, it published an article that was deemed insulting to the
Imperial Regalia of Japan
, and the paper was put on indefinite suspension. The suspension was lifted in January 1921.
[8]
During this period, in November 1920,
The Dong-A Ilbo
journalist
Chang D?k-chun
[
ko
]
was killed by Japanese soldiers while investigating a massacre of Koreans by Japanese soldiers in
Hunchun
,
Manchuria
. He became the first Korean reporter to be killed while reporting.
[8]
In April 1924, the Sikdowon Incident (
식도원 事件
) occurred.
The Dong-A Ilbo
published critical articles about pro-Japanese Korean organizations, which led to backlash from those groups. One of these groups (
各派維持聯盟
;
各派有志聯盟
) requested a meeting with the newspaper's president
Song Jin-woo
and executive director (
取締役
) Kim Seong-su to the restaurant Sikdowon. The pair were then threatened at gunpoint.
[8]
News of the incident spread rapidly, with Koreans around the country expressing outrage.
[8]
In March 1926, it published a speech about the anniversary of the March 1st Movement, which brought another suspension that would be lifted the following month.
[8]
In April 1930, it republished a letter from an American journalist that advocated for the Korean independence movement, which resulted in a suspension until September.
[8]
Sohn Kee-chung uniform scandal
[
edit
]
Ethnic Korean marathoner
Sohn Kee-chung
became the first Korean to win a gold medal at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. However, because Korea was under Japanese rule, his uniform featured the Japanese flag. Lee Kil-yong, Lee Sang-beom, and others worked together to erase the Japanese flag off Sohn's uniform, and published the image in the paper. The morning after the publication in August 1936, about 10 journalists of Dong-a Ilbo were hauled off to the police station where they were beaten and tortured.
[11]
[8]
The paper was suspended from then until June 1937.
[8]
Increased repression and forced closure
[
edit
]
With the rise of the
Second Sino-Japanese War
in 1937, the colonial government tightened restrictions on Korea. It censored and applied increasing pressure on
The Dong-A Ilbo
; in one instance, the government ordered the paper to remove an image of the
Hibiscus syriacus
flower (
無窮花
;
mugunghwa
; a symbol of Korea) from its logo.
[8]
In 1940, the colonial government announced a policy that has since been dubbed
One Province, One Company
(
1道1社
;
1度 1社
). Under this policy, both Japanese- and Korean-language newspapers were made to consolidate to one per region.
[6]
As part of this effort,
The Dong-A Ilbo
and
The Chosun Ilbo
were forced to close on August 10,
[8]
which again left the
Maeil Sinbo
as the only prominent Korean-language newspaper allowed in Korea,
[6]
although several minor Korean-language newspapers continued to be published.
[13]
[14]
Much of the printing equipment and staff for the Korean-owned papers was transferred to either the
Maeil Sinbo
or the de facto official Japanese-language publication
Keij? Nipp?
.
[16]
Liberation of Korea and interwar period
[
edit
]
On August 15, 1945,
Japan announced that it would surrender
to the
Allies
, which signaled the liberation of Korea. Printing equipment was still held by the
Maeil Sinbo
and
Keij? Nipp?
; the remnants of the colonial government protected the equipment from being seized by Koreans even weeks after the surrender.
[17]
In September, the United States arrived and established the
United States Army Military Government in Korea
(USAMGIK) south of the
38th parallel
, which encompassed Seoul. The U.S. allowed for greater freedom of the press for Koreans,
[18]
and facilitated the closure of the Japanese-owned papers and transfer of printing equipment to the Koreans.
[17]
After five years and four months on hiatus,
The Dong-A Ilbo
released an issue on December 1, 1945.
[8]
However, the left-right political divide intensified after the liberation and
division of Korea
.
[18]
The Dong-A Ilbo
sided with the right-leaning Koreans.
[8]
Korean War
[
edit
]
On June 25, 1950, North Korea launched an invasion of the South, which began the
Korean War
.
The Dong-A Ilbo
published an issue on June 27, 1950, and then went on hiatus as Seoul was captured in the
First Battle of Seoul
. The
Second Battle of Seoul
saw Seoul's liberation by September 28; the paper resumed publication with a two-page issue on October 4. However, the
Third Battle of Seoul
and retreat from Seoul on January 4, 1951 caused the paper to go on hiatus again, and the paper was reestablished on January 10 in
Busan
, which was then serving as the provisional capital.
[8]
There, the paper shared printing equipment with local newspapers; they struggled to print even two-page issues. In February 1952, they finished construction on a temporary headquarters in
Toseong-dong
[
ko
]
. However, the paper published critically about the
Syngman Rhee
administration, which it described as dictatorial. This caused the paper to eventually be indefinitely suspended (for its fifth time) on March 15, 1955. The suspension was lifted a month later.
[8]
Post-war period
[
edit
]
In April 1960, the pro-democracy
April Revolution
protests against Rhee occurred. In December, the newspaper published an article that drew the ire of protestors, which caused 1,000 people to demonstrate at its offices.
[8]
The following year,
Park Chung Hee
launched the
May 16 coup
and established a military dictatorship. Park's administration imposed restrictions on the press;
The Dong-A Ilbo
was allowed to print 36 pages per week in the evenings. This limit was increased to 48 pages per week in March 1970.
[8]
By the 1970s,
The Dong-A Ilbo
was seen as one of the most prestigious newspapers in Korea to work for, in part because of its historical role as a vanguard in the Korean independence movement.
[19]
In the 1970s,
The Dong-A Ilbo
advocated for greater press freedom, in what has dubbed the "Fight for Press Freedom" (
自由言論守護鬪爭
).
[20]
[21]
On October 24, 1974, one of their issues was censored by the government, and prevented from being published. In protest of this,
The Dong-A Ilbo
published a public statement demanding more press freedom. The Park Chung Hee administration then contacted various companies that advertised in
The Dong-A Ilbo
, and pressured them to break their contracts with the newspaper.
[22]
This led to the December 1974
The Dong-A Ilbo
blank advertisement incident
[
ko
]
, where no advertisements were published in a number of issues of the paper for months.
[22]
The newspaper and other media outlets were pressured into firing journalists who published critically about the Park administration. The newspaper attempted to compensate for their losses with private donations and by downsizing.
[22]
[8]
On February 28, 1975, management of the paper held a meeting where it was agreed that they would fire some staff members who were the most vocal about freedom of the press. On March 8, the paper fired 18 employees, then fired an additional two more who protested the firings. Over a hundred of the paper's staff protested the firings, and staged a sit-in and hunger strike in the company offices. The strike was framed as a "riot", and was broken using force; the striking reporters were dragged out of the offices.
[19]
By the time the unrest largely ended, almost half of the paper's staff had been fired or left.
[19]
Pressure on the paper was lifted by July 1975.
[8]
[19]
According to a reporter who wrote about this incident in
The Hankyoreh
in 2012,
The Dong-A Ilbo
became much more conservative and pro-government since the incident, and is still considered a conservative paper.
[19]
Timeline
[
edit
]
- 1920-09-25: The first suspension for indefinite period of time: for printing the article "Discussing the Problems with Rituals" which were critical of three items sacred to Japan
- 1926-03-06: The second suspension for printing a message celebrating the
March 1 protest
- 1930-04-16: The third suspension for printing "
The Dong-A Ilbo
Plays an Important Role in Chosun's Current Situation" which was a letter sent by a press in US in support of Korea
- 1931-03-21: Held the 1st Dong-a Marathon Games, Korea's first marathon race
- 1936-08-29: The fourth suspension: for erasing the Japanese flag from
Korean born Olympic gold medalist
- 1940-08-10: Forced closure by the Japanese government
- 1945-12-01: Re-opening of
Dong-a Ilbo
- 1961-03-15: Articles were printed criticizing the legitimacy of the May 15 election (lead to the
April revolution
)
- 1963-03-17: Published newspaper without editorials in protest to the continued military rule
- 1963-04-25: Opened Dong-a Broadcasting Station. The first media company to own print and broadcast media
- 1964-07-15: Establishment of Children's
Dong-a
- 1967-01-28: Establishment of
Dong-a Annual
- 1971-08-17: Staff reporters receive Korea Reporter's Award
- 1974-10-24: Announced the Free Press Declaration
- 1974-11-20: Awarded for efforts made in freedom of speech by US Freedom House
- 1974-12-20: Published blank advertisements in protest of the tyrannical military administration's advertisement oppression
- 1975-04-18:
Dong-a Ilbo
President Sang-man Kim receives Press Freedom Golden Pen award
- 1980-11-30: Dong-a Broadcasting Station closed due to the mandatory merger by the military government forces
- 1984-04-01: Establishment of
Dong-a Music
(magazine)
- 1986-01-01: Establishment of
Dong-a Science
- 1987-01-16: Exclusively reported the torture and death of
Park Jong-chul
, which acted as a catalyst for the
June democracy uprising
- 1993-04-01: Changed from an evening newspaper to a morning newspaper
- 1994-03-21: Established Ilmin (People's) Culture Foundation
- 1996-10-01: Began internet news service: DongA.com
- 1996-12-19:
Ilmin Museum of Art
opened in the former Dong-a Ilbo newspaper building
- 2000-01-01: Moves into Dong-a Media Centre in the
Gwanghwamun
area
- 2000-12-15: Newspaper museum "
Presseum
" opened
- 2001-07-01: World edition of paper printed in over 90 cities
- 2002-01-01: Starting of
Dong-a Ilbo
'
s mobile services
- 2002-01-04: The first Korean newspaper company to publish the weekend section,
Weekend
- 2003-04-01: Introduced the Knowledge Management System (KMS), 'Genie'.
- 2005-07-15: On and Off-line Newsroom unifies
- 2005-08-17: Begins printing 32 pages of
Dong-a Ilbo
in color
Feminist movement
[
edit
]
In 1933,
Dong-a Ilbo
launched
The New Women
(later to become
Dong-a Women.
) The publication held events such as cooking schools and wives’ picnic providing women a place to socialize outside of the home. Articles such as “The New Woman and Education”, “Liberation of Women and the Nuclear Family” and “Women and Career” were printed to stimulate women's participation in society and the development of women's rights.
Dong-a Ilbo
also hosted athletic events for women. “Women’s National Tennis Competition” is Korea's and
Dong-a
'
s oldest contest ever to be held.
The paper is considered a
newspaper of record
in Korea.
[23]
Awards and recognition
[
edit
]
- Receives Korea's Best Brand Award (2006)
- Dong-a Ilbo
President Sang-man Kim receives Press Freedom Golden Pen award (1975)
- Awarded for efforts made in freedom of speech by US Freedom House (1974)
- Staff reporters receive Korea Reporter's Award (1971)
Company
[
edit
]
Readership
[
edit
]
- Circulation: over 52 million
- About 51% of the readers are in their 30s - 40s
- Over 50% of the readers live in metropolitan area
- 55% of the readers are university educated or higher
International partnerships
[
edit
]
Dong-a Ilbo
has partnered with internationally acclaimed news companies such as the New York Times and
Reuters
. They share information including articles and video clips.
Dong-a Ilbo
also prints global editions in 90 cities such as Washington DC, London, Paris, Frankfurt, etc., and has 22 branches worldwide including LA, Vancouver, Osaka. It also has international correspondents stationed in 6 cities with New York, Tokyo, and Beijing among them. Also, the digital edition of the paper is available in English, Japanese and Chinese.
Publishing
[
edit
]
Dong-a Ilbo
also has an active publishing sector which produces magazines and books. There are four monthly magazines, two weekly magazines and one annual magazine. The literature sector concentrates on translating and distributing foreign material and also creating domestic content. DongA Books has brought to Korea many international bestsellers and award-winning literature as well as creating million sellers on its own.
- Magazines:
- Shin Dong-a
(Current events magazine)
- Women's Dong-a
(Women's magazine)
- Dong-a Science
(Popular science magazine)
- Dong-a Science KIDS
- Weekly Dong-a
- Weekend
- Dong-a Annual
- Books
- Interpreter of Maladies
by Jhumpa Lahiri (a Pulitzer winning fiction)
- A Walk in the Woods
by Bill Bryson (an international bestseller)
- Sponge
series (Korean content) has sold over a million copies
New and multi-media services
[
edit
]
Dong-a Ilbo
has been investing in many ventures that integrate technology into the method of spreading the news. First was the establishment of DongA.com which is the online version of the paper with much more content. It provides space for discussion and submission by the readers. From the success of the on-line content, the company also started its mobile services allowing readers to seek out the news wherever and whenever they are. With recent partnership with Reuters,
Dong-a
aims to add multimedia services to its methods. With raw video feeds from Reuters which
Dong-a
has the right to edit for its own use, DongA.com aims to reach its readers through text, images and video.
Dong-a Ilbo
has always recognized its responsibility as a public corporation. As stated in Dong-a DNA, humanism is a great part of
Dong-a Ilbo
.
It has a Culture & Sports Operations department (New Project Bureau) that works to raise awareness of different areas in arts and sports as well as promote healthy lifestyles.
The company also has many foundations and scholarships for the less fortunate students in the country.
Arts
[
edit
]
Dong-a Ilbo
holds annual competition of high quality as well as hosting many cultural exhibitions.
- International Music Concours
- Dong-a Theatre Awards
- DongA-LG International Animations Competition
- Rembrandt and 17th Century Netherland Painters Exhibition (2007)
and more
Sports
[
edit
]
Dong-a Ilbo
hosts annual competitions for various sports of different levels. It first began its program to raise awareness and help promote areas in sports that were less popular.
- Seoul International Marathon
- High School Baseball Tournament
- Dong-a Swim Meet
and more
Education
[
edit
]
Dong-a
holds annual competitions to help the brightest students. Other sectors such as
Dong-a Science
has its own educational program which also holds competitions to award the talented.
- National English Competition (University & high school division)
- National Scientific Essay Contest (hosted by DongA Science)
Charity
[
edit
]
Dong-a Ilbo
has established many foundations and scholarships for students and children of less fortunate circumstances. It has also established a foundation which promotes peace and culture.
- Dong-a Dream Tree's Foundation: Scholarship foundation
- Inchon Foundation: Founded in celebration of Kim, Sung-soo. Scholarship foundation.
- 21st Century Peace Foundation: Promotes peace and harmony between North and South Korea through various means of communication and more
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Horesh Niv (27 October 2014).
Superpower, China? Historicizing Beijing's New Narratives Of Leadership And East Asia's Response Thereto
. World Scientific. p. 111.
ISBN
978-9814619172
.
- ^
Miri Moon (2019).
International News Coverage and the Korean Conflict: The Challenges of Reporting Practices
. Springer. p. 63.
ISBN
978-9811362910
.
- ^
Jesus Velasco (4 June 2019).
American Presidential Elections in a Comparative Perspective
. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 146.
ISBN
978-1-4985-5757-3
.
- ^
"한겨레"
.
Encyclopedia of Korean Culture
(in Korean)
. Retrieved
26 December
2021
.
한겨레신문은 1988年 5月 15日 創刊되었다. 1970年 自由言論守護鬪爭過程에서 解職된 東亞日報·조선일보의 解職記者 等으로 構成된 두 新聞의 鬪爭委員會 會員들이 1987年 9月 1日 서울特別市 鍾路區 안국동의 安國빌딩에 創刊發議準備委員會를 構成함으로써 創刊作業을 本格化하였다.
- ^
United States. Congress. House. Committee on International Relations, ed. (1975).
Human Rights in South Korea and the Philippines: the Implications for U.S. Policy, Hearings Before the Subcommittee on International Organizations ..., 94-1, May 20, 22, June 3, 5, 10, 12, 17, and 24, 1975
. p. 355.
... These lawyers' ads are not as witty, charming, poetic or mordant as many others that grace Dong-A Ilbo. Yet they movingly reveal a faith in liberal values that reflect the best of East and West. ...
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
情, 진석; 崔, 軫憂.
"新聞 (新聞)"
.
Encyclopedia of Korean Culture
(in Korean)
. Retrieved
2024-02-11
.
- ^
金, 진봉.
"3·1運動 (三一運動)"
.
Encyclopedia of Korean Culture
(in Korean).
Academy of Korean Studies
. Retrieved
2024-02-12
.
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e
f
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i
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l
m
n
o
p
q
r
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u
v
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aa
"동아일보 (東亞日報)"
,
Encyclopedia of Korean Culture
(in Korean),
Academy of Korean Studies
, retrieved
2024-03-09
- ^
"Silent Resistance: Erasing Japan's Flag"
.
The Dong-A Ilbo
. Retrieved
2022-09-06
.
- ^
"親日佛敎社 照明-'佛敎時報' 發見"
.
佛敎新聞
(in Korean). 1998-08-25
. Retrieved
2024-02-03
.
- ^
"基督新聞 (基督新聞)"
.
Encyclopedia of Korean Culture
(in Korean)
. Retrieved
2024-02-11
.
- ^
"京城日報"
.
Archives of Korean History
.
National Institute of Korean History
. Retrieved
2024-02-10
.
- ^
a
b
情, 진석 (July 20, 2015).
"新聞으로 보는 1945年 解放 前後의 韓國"
[[70th Anniversary of the Liberation Special] Before and After Korea's 1945 Liberation, Seen Through Newspapers].
Monthly Chosun
(in Korean)
. Retrieved
February 15,
2024
.
- ^
a
b
손, 세일 (2010-07-05).
"孫世一의 比較 評傳 (76) 韓國 民族主義의 두 類型 - 李承晩과 金九"
.
Monthly Chosun
(in Korean)
. Retrieved
2024-03-09
.
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a
b
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d
e
한, 홍구 (2012-11-23).
"
'자랑스런 東亞日報'는 이렇게 墜落했다"
.
The Hankyoreh
(in Korean)
. Retrieved
2024-03-11
.
- ^
"한겨레"
,
Encyclopedia of Korean Culture
(in Korean),
Academy of Korean Studies
, retrieved
2024-03-11
- ^
金, 상철 (2004-07-20).
"維新治下 言論彈壓 過去淸算 時急"
.
Kyunghyang Shinmun
(in Korean)
. Retrieved
2024-03-11
.
- ^
a
b
c
"[백 투 더 東亞/12月 26日]'白紙 廣告 事態' 때 激勵 廣告 1號는 누구?"
.
The Dong-A Ilbo
(in Korean). 2017-12-25
. Retrieved
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.
- ^
Youm, Kyu Ho
; Kwak, Nojin (August 2018). "3".
Korean Communication, Media, and Culture: An Annotated Bibliography
(1st ed.).
Lexington Books
. p. 71.
ISBN
978-1498583329
.
The prominent "big three" publications ? Chosun Ilbo, Dong-a Ilbo, and Joongang Ilbo ? are newspapers of record with a combined three million subscribers.
Sources
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]