Seoul Shinmun
 | |
 Current headquarters (2019) | |
| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet |
| Owner(s) | Seoul Newspaper Co., Ltd. |
| Founder(s) | Ernest Bethell |
| Founded | 18 July 1904 (original) |
| Language | Korean |
| Ceased publication | 28 August 1910 (Korea Daily News), 10 November 1945 (Daily News) |
| Relaunched | 23 November 1945 (current name) |
| Headquarters | Seoul, South Korea |
| Circulation | 780,000 |
| Website | www |
| Seoul Shinmun | |
| Hangul | |
|---|---|
| Hanja | 서울新聞 |
| Revised Romanization | Seoul Shinmun |
| McCune–Reischauer | Sŏul Shinmun |
Seoul Shinmun (Korean: 서울신문; lit. Seoul Newspaper) is the oldest daily newspaper in South Korea, with more than a century of publication.
It was first published as the Korea Times (not to be confused with the later The Korea Times) on 18 July 1904, although it soon renamed to the The Korea Daily News (Daehan Maeil Shinbo). It published in both English and Korean, and soon became significantly influential due to its ability to publish critically about the Japanese government, which was rapidly encroaching on Korean sovereignty at the time. However, mounting pressure caused it to be sold in 1910. It renamed to Maeil sinbo, and largely published along Japanese colonial government lines. After the liberation of Korea, the newspaper was seized by the United States Army Military Government in Korea in November 1945 and reorganized as Seoul Shinmun. The paper continued under this name, although it briefly published under the name Jinjung Shinmun during the Korean War and for several years afterwards.
Circulation is an estimated 780,000 issues a day.
History
Korea Times and Korea Daily News
In 1904, British journalists Ernest Bethell and Thomas Cowen[1] were sent to Korea to report for the British newspaper Daily Chronicle.[2] This was during a time when the Japanese government was rapidly encroaching on Korea's sovereignty. After being fired from the paper,[1] Bethell and Cowen began planning to publish their own paper tentatively called the Korea Times.[1] The pair,[1] along with Korean independence activist Yang Gi-tak, published the first issue of the Korea Times (concurrently published in Korean as Daehan Maeil Sinbo; 대한매일신보; 大韓每日申報) on 18 July 1904.[2][1] Newspapers were then censored by the Japanese Resident-General of Korea. Bethell, as a British citizen, was able to dodge Japanese censorship and continue publishing newspapers.[2] However, he was frequently harrassed by the Japanese.[1] Bethell was arrested and tried by the British twice, by request of the Japanese government.[1][2][3] He transferred ownership of the paper to his assistant editor Arthur Marnham, who carried on reporting critically of Japan.[1]
Maeil sinbo
On 21 May 1910,[4] Marnham folded under joint British and Japanese pressure,[1] secretly sold the newspaper to former employee Lee Jang-hoon (이장훈; 李章薰) for 40,000 won[3] (or 700 British pounds[4]) worth of gold, and left the country.[1] The 14 June, 1408th issue reflects this, with Lee's name given as editor.[3] Yang resigned and denounced the paper publicly as a propaganda piece.[3][4] The paper became strictly controlled by Japan. It changed its name to Maeil sinbo (매일신보; 每日申報) on 30 August 1910.[1]
The newspaper then became subordinated to the Japanese-language paper Keijō nippō, and its offices were moved into that paper's building.[5]
In the 1910s, it was one of the only Korean-language newspapers allowed in the country. Despite mostly publishing along Japanese lines, it also served as a medium for Korean-language literature, and published pieces from many famous Korean writers.[5] It held a literature contest in August 1919.[4]
It was reorganized into a number of different departments in 1920.[5] On 2 July 1920, it hired the first female Korean reporter, Yi Kak-kyŏng (이각경; 李珏璟), and she began working on 5 September. The criterion for female reporters that the newspaper wanted was reportedly "1. To be the wife of the head of a household, 2. to be between 20 and 30 years of age, 3. to have graduated from high school and to have writing as a hobby".[4]
In 1937, it had a news ticker installed on the roof of the Whashin Department Store on Jongno.[4]
On 29 April 1938, it became independent from the Keijō and changed a character in its name (申 to 新; same pronunciation in Korean).[5][4] All executives were Korean by this point.[4] It was expanded to contain eight pages instead of four.[5] In celebration of these changes, it published a special issue on 30 June 1938, which talked about Korean history and calligraphy.[4]
Seoul Shinmun
Korea was liberated in August 1945. The Maeil sinbo chairman Lee Seong-geun (이성근) resigned, and the employees took over operation of the paper. The U.S. military arrived on 2 October 1945, and took control of it.[5] However, it faced pushback from the employees,[6] resulting in the paper being suspended in 10 November 1945.[3][6] It was reorganized and resumed publication on 23 November 1945 as Seoul Shinmun.[3][5][6] Its first president was independence activist O Se-chang,[5][6] who had participated in the 1919 March 1st Movement protests against Japanese rule.[4]
In February 1946, they began publishing Shincheonji (신천지; 新天地), a monthly magazine that covered various topics including current affairs, culture, and the arts. It published 68 issues over 9 years.[4]
In 15 August 1949, the paper and others were restricted to only four pages per issue.[6] The paper's publication froze during the Korean War. A two-page successor paper, called Jinjung Shinmun (진중신문; 陣中新聞) began publication in April 1951, and was the only operating newspaper service in the city at the time. Its facilities were once destroyed, but were rebuilt, and the paper continued publishing.[6]
On 18 October 1956, the paper named its pure Hangul edition the Seoul Shinmun. It was mostly a transliteration of the mixed-script main paper, and ceased publication within a year.[6]
On 23 March 1959, it changed its numbering system to effectively cut out the Maeil sinbo portion of its history, by making its first Seoul Shinmun issue as No. 1, instead of its previous numbering No. 13738.[6] During the 1960 April Revolution, a fire occurred in the building, and many of its rare records and materials were lost.[6] The paper encountered then financial difficulties, and took a hiatus beginning on 9 May of the following year. However, after the May 16 coup of 1961, it began receiving support from the government, and resumed publication on 22 December of that year, publishing 36 pages per week in the evenings.[6]
From 2 December 1980, it began publishing in the morning again. It began using computerized typesetting in January 1985, and moved to a larger office at Taepyeongno, Jung District, Seoul. It changed to horizontal type in October 1996.[6]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Neff, Robert (2 May 2010). "UK journalist Bethell established newspapers in 1904". The Korea Times. Retrieved 26 January 2024.
- ^ a b c d Han, Jeon (June 2019). "Fighting Injustice with the Pen". www.kocis.go.kr. Retrieved 26 January 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f "대한매일신보(大韓每日申報)". Encyclopedia of Korean Culture (in Korean). Retrieved 26 January 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "서울신문 연혁" [Seoul Shinmun Timeline]. company.seoul.co.kr. Retrieved 26 January 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "매일신보". 우리역사. National Institute of Korean History. Retrieved 26 January 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "서울신문(서울新聞)". encykorea.aks.ac.kr (in Korean). Retrieved 26 January 2024.
External links
- Official website
(in Korean)