Dong-a Ilbo
Encyclopedia
The Dong-a Ilbo is one of three major South Korean newspapers with over 2 million daily circulation. Founded in 1920 by Kim Sung-soo, who undertook Korea University
during the Japanese occupation of Korea and later served as the second vice-president in 1951, it was a nationalist paper but today it avows in its company motto to be critical and honest in reporting the news. The Dong-a Ilbo was owned by the Lucky-Goldstar chaebol since 1961.
It has partnership with 6 foreign newspapers such as The New York Times
of the USA, Asahi Shimbun
of Japan and The Times
of the United Kingdom.
It also publishes global editions in 90 cities worldwide including New York, London, Paris and Frankfurt.
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.
In 1933, DongA Ilbo created the very first women’s magazine called “The New Women” (later to become “DongA Women”) For the female readers at the time could only read Korean characters (not Chinese characters), all the articles were written purely in Korean. The publication held events such as cooking schools and wives’ picnic providing women a place to socialize and a reason to get out of the house.
DongA Ilbo also hosted athletic events for women. “Women’s National Tennis Competition” is Korea's and DongA’s oldest contest ever to be held.
After four attempts to close DongA Ilbo and other numerous occasions of inspection, censorship, seizure and deletion, the Japanese government succeeded in August 1940. Then, DongA Ilbo was owned by Lucky Goldstar Group since 1961 till present. The DongA Ilbo built DongA Broadcasting System. Under the Chun Doo-hwan regime, South Korea's media policy had changed. The regime had closed several radio and TV networks and DBS was forced to give most of its shares to the government. The DongA Ilbo, the Lucky-Goldstar Group owned, gave up DBS in 1980.
The event that made forced closure possible was DongA Ilbo's deliberate obscuration of the Japanese flag in a photograph of the first ever Korean Olympic Gold medalist.
Sohn Kee-Chung
won the gold medal in marathon at the 11th Summer Olympics in Berlin (1936); however, because Korea was under Japanese rule, his uniform featured the Japanese flag. The article showed pride for the Korean athlete and featured a smudged Japanese flag to promote nationalistic ideas.
million sellers on its own.
to seek out the news wherever and whenever they are. With recent partnership with Reuters, DongA aims to add multimedia services to its methods. With raw video feeds from Reuters which DongA has the right to edit for its own use, DongA.com aims to reach its readers through text, images and video.
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.
and more
that were less popular.
and more
and more
which promotes peace and culture.
and more
Korea University
Korea University is a prestigious nonsectarian, private research university located primarily in Seoul, South Korea, and one of the SKY universities, a historical acronym used in South Korea to refer to Seoul National University, Korea University, and Yonsei University. Founded by Lee Yong-ik in...
during the Japanese occupation of Korea and later served as the second vice-president in 1951, it was a nationalist paper but today it avows in its company motto to be critical and honest in reporting the news. The Dong-a Ilbo was owned by the Lucky-Goldstar chaebol since 1961.
It has partnership with 6 foreign newspapers such as The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
of the USA, Asahi Shimbun
Asahi Shimbun
The is the second most circulated out of the five national newspapers in Japan. Its circulation, which was 7.96 million for its morning edition and 3.1 million for its evening edition as of June 2010, was second behind that of Yomiuri Shimbun...
of Japan and The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
of the United Kingdom.
It also publishes global editions in 90 cities worldwide including New York, London, Paris and Frankfurt.
Company spirit
DongA Ilbo was established in 1920 with the motto of "For the people, democracy and culture." These ideas have transformed into what the company named "DongA DNA" which calls for critical view of authority, journalistic integrity in reporting the truth, humanism by sharing the pain of the neglected and being revolutionary by not fearing change.Timeline
- 1920-04-01 : Published the first issue along with the civilization policy of Governor-General of KoreaGovernor-General of KoreaThe post of Japanese Governor-General of Korea served as the chief administrator of the Japanese government in Korea while it was held as the Japanese colony of Chōsen from 1910 to 1945...
- 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 uprising (Civil Movement)
- 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 DongA Ilbo
- 1961-03-15 : Articles were printed criticizing the illegalness of the 3.15 election
(lead to 4.19 revolution) - 1961-05-12 : Become the argument of Lucky-Goldstar Group (now LG Group)
- 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 DongA
- 1967-01-28 : Establishment of DongA 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 oppressions
- 1975-04-18 : DongA 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 DongA Music (mag)
- 1986-01-01 : Establishment of DongA 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 ArtIlmin Museum of ArtIlmin Museum of Art is a private art museum of South Korea, located on Sejongno street in Jongno-gu, a central district of Seoul, known for exhibiting mainly Korean art...
opened - 2000-01-01 : Moves into Dong-a Media Centre in the GwanghwamunGwanghwamunGwanghwamun is the main and largest gate of Gyeongbokgung Palace, located in Seoul, South Korea. As a landmark and symbol of Seoul's long history as the capital city during the Joseon Dynasty, the gate has gone through multiple periods of destruction and disrepair...
area - 2000-12-15 : Newspaper museum "PresseumPresseumThe Presseum is the only newspaper museum of South Korea, situated on Sejongno, in Jongno-gu, central of Seoul. The museum was established and is operated by Dong-A Ilbo, one of the four major newspaper companies of South Korea. Presseum is a compound word to denote "press" and "museum" which...
" 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
By creating “Women’s Section” in its regular production of the paper, DongA Ilbo worked to liberate women who had long been forced to stay at home and abide by traditional rules of obedience from the very beginning.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.
In 1933, DongA Ilbo created the very first women’s magazine called “The New Women” (later to become “DongA Women”) For the female readers at the time could only read Korean characters (not Chinese characters), all the articles were written purely in Korean. The publication held events such as cooking schools and wives’ picnic providing women a place to socialize and a reason to get out of the house.
DongA Ilbo also hosted athletic events for women. “Women’s National Tennis Competition” is Korea's and DongA’s oldest contest ever to be held.
Forced closure: Erasing of Japanese flag
In 1939 when World War II erupted, the Japanese government began a campaign to unify Korea and Japan as a culture. This meant the effacement of much of Korea's cultural identity.After four attempts to close DongA Ilbo and other numerous occasions of inspection, censorship, seizure and deletion, the Japanese government succeeded in August 1940. Then, DongA Ilbo was owned by Lucky Goldstar Group since 1961 till present. The DongA Ilbo built DongA Broadcasting System. Under the Chun Doo-hwan regime, South Korea's media policy had changed. The regime had closed several radio and TV networks and DBS was forced to give most of its shares to the government. The DongA Ilbo, the Lucky-Goldstar Group owned, gave up DBS in 1980.
The event that made forced closure possible was DongA Ilbo's deliberate obscuration of the Japanese flag in a photograph of the first ever Korean Olympic Gold medalist.
Sohn Kee-Chung
Sohn Kee-chung
Sohn Kee-Chung became the first medal-winning Korean Olympian, when he won the gold medal in the marathon at the 1936 Berlin Olympics as a member of the Japanese delegation....
won the gold medal in marathon at the 11th Summer Olympics in Berlin (1936); however, because Korea was under Japanese rule, his uniform featured the Japanese flag. The article showed pride for the Korean athlete and featured a smudged Japanese flag to promote nationalistic ideas.
Awards and recognition
- Receives Korea's Best Brand Award (2006)
- DongA 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)
Readership
- Circulation: over 2 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
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 world-wide 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.- Partnership:
- New York Times
- The Times (UK)
- Asahi Shimbun (Japan)
- People's Daily (China)
- Izvestia (Russia)
- Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)
Publishing
DongA 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 creatingmillion sellers on its own.
- Magazines:
- Shin DongA (Current events magazine)
- Women's DongA (Women's magazine)
- DongA Science (Popular science magazine)
- DongA Science KIDS
- Weekly DongA
- Weekend
- DongA Annual
- DongA Books: (examples)
- 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
DongA 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 readersto seek out the news wherever and whenever they are. With recent partnership with Reuters, DongA aims to add multimedia services to its methods. With raw video feeds from Reuters which DongA has the right to edit for its own use, DongA.com aims to reach its readers through text, images and video.
Community service
DongA Ilbo has always recognized its responsibility as a public corporation. As stated in DongA DNA, humanism is a great part of DongA 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
DongA Ilbo holds annual competition of high quality as well as hosting many cultural exhibitions.- International Music Concours
- DongA Theatre Awards
- DongA-LG International Animations Competition
- Rembrandt and 17th Century Netherland Painters Exhibition (2007)
and more
Sports
DongA Ilbo hosts annual competitions for various sports of different levels. It first began its program to raise awareness and help promote areas in sportsthat were less popular.
- Seoul International Marathon
- Highschool Baseball Tournament
- DongA Swim Meet
and more
Education
DongA holds annual competitions to help the brightest students. Other sectors such as DongA Science has its own educational program which also holds competitions to award the talented.- National English Competition (University & Highschool division)
- National Scientific Essay Contest (hosted by DongA Science)
and more
Charity
DongA Ilbo has established many foundations and scholarships for students and children of less fortunate circumstances. It has also established a foundationwhich promotes peace and culture.
- DongA 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
Sources
See also
- PresseumPresseumThe Presseum is the only newspaper museum of South Korea, situated on Sejongno, in Jongno-gu, central of Seoul. The museum was established and is operated by Dong-A Ilbo, one of the four major newspaper companies of South Korea. Presseum is a compound word to denote "press" and "museum" which...
- Ilmin Museum of ArtIlmin Museum of ArtIlmin Museum of Art is a private art museum of South Korea, located on Sejongno street in Jongno-gu, a central district of Seoul, known for exhibiting mainly Korean art...
- List of newspapers in South Korea
- Communications in South KoreaCommunications in South KoreaCommunications services improved dramatically in the 1980s with the assistance of foreign partners and as a result of the development of the electronics industry...
- List of Korea-related topics
- Cho-Joong-Dong, 조중동ChojoongdongCho-Joong-Dong is a generally negative nickname for the three major newspapers in South Korea, the Chosun Ilbo, Joongang Ilbo and Dong-a Ilbo, which are criticized for a purportedly uniform and conservative editorial stance, and for operating in an allegedly collusive and surreptitious manner...