[Citizen College Season 3] Korea-Japan Conflict and Media,

On October 11, 2019, the third lecture of the Citizens’ University Season 3 “Citizens and the World: Peace on the Korean Peninsula and International Politics” was given at Korea University’s Political Science & Economics Bldg. 101, co-hosted by the Seongbuk-gu Office and the Korea University Institute for Peace and Democracy. The third lecture was given by Professor Lee gyu-jung of the Institute for Peace and Democracy at Korea University.

Under the title “Korea-Japan Conflict and Media,” the lecture was a brief overview of the recent developments in the Korea-Japan conflict and how Korean media understand and report on the conflict based on the general functions of the media. The Korean media’s reporting on the Korea-Japan conflict has shown a tendency for Korea to track down the cause of the conflict and to report relatively faithfully on the responses of the two governments and the private sector. However, some media outlets are showing a far cry from the public sentiment.The lecturer was introduced in three main frames. First, irrational nationalist frame. Second, the frame of promoting the security crisis. Third, the frame of promoting economic crisis. He also pointed out that the titles and contents of Japanese-language articles of Korean newspapers are unilaterally distorted and denied, creating difficulties in communicating facts and bringing about reasonable alternatives.

The general functions of the media can be divided into four main categories. There are functions of monitoring power, providing information and education, setting agenda, and forming a social forum for policy decisions. In light of this, some Korean media have failed to criticize and check the political power of Korea and Japan in a balanced way. There is also an error of bias that first represents the political orientation of the press and the interests of certain political forces. It also presents an agenda that glosses over the nature of the problem and makes it difficult to find a reasonable solution, and is expected to lead to a public forum full of confrontation and conflict.