Growing Number of Reports about South Korea in the U.S. Media.

‘Corporate Korea Corks the Bottle as Women Rise”

This is the title of an article in the weekend edition of the New York Times published on June 10. The article detailed Korea’s “hoishik” or coming together after work to eat foods (mostly with binge drinking) and coined the term “knights in shining armor” to translate “heukgisa,” a male colleague who takes turns in drinking instead of her. And the article stressed that as more and more women enter the workforce, ‘corporate South Korea has struggled to change the country’s thoroughly male-centered corporate culture, starting with alcohol.’

This is one of other reports about Korea that recently appeared in newspapers. This newspaper examined the latest articles of the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, two of the most influential newspapers in the U.S., and found a surge of South Korea-related articles.

From April 1 to June 10, the New York Times published 17 articles about South Korea and 24 reports about Japan. Though the number is smaller than Japan’s, it has risen dramatically compared to the past when reports from Japan greatly outnumbered those from Korea.

Those articles cover diverse aspects of Korea. In the past, North Korea`s nuclear program or relations between the two Koreas were the main source of reports about South Korea. During the examination period, however, North Korea-related items appeared only once: a story about the re-linking of the railroad between South and North Korea. Other reports covered economic and social changes; especially social changes after the wide adoption of the Internet. For example, the online gaming boom in the nation, the growing online matchmaking industry, and deaths linked to suicide site were all written about.

During the same period, the Wall Street Journal carried 25 articles on South Korea. This financial newspaper focused on the economy of South Korea; the paper covered reports on the process and conclusion of FTA talks with the U.S. and analyses about product origin issues regarding goods manufactured in the Gaesong Industrial Complex. Quarterly results of Samsung and LG have always appeared, clearly reflecting the enhanced status of Korean companies.

The Wall Street Journal also featured reports on products in which South Korea is leading. For instance, May 18’s scoop named, ‘For LG, PDP Restructuring Has Just Begun’ was quoted in the Journal’s news item on May 19. And analysis on May 24 said that LCD is beating PDP.

kong@donga.com