The Chosun Ilbo

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The Chosun Ilbo
Hangul:	조선일보
Hanja:	朝鮮日報
Revised Romanization:	Joseon Ilbo
McCune-Reischauer:	Chosŏn Ilbo

Chosun Ilbo is one of the major newspapers in South Korea, with a daily circulation of 2,380,000^{[citation needed]} - the largest newspaper in the country. Chosun Ilbo has been undertaken annual inspections since Audit Bureau of Circulations was established in 1993. It is generally considered to represent conservative viewpoint in South Korean society. The Chosun Ilbo has often been criticized for its conservative reporting.

Besides the daily newspaper itself, the company also publishes the weekly Jugan Chosun, the monthly Wolgan San (lit. Monthly Mountain), and other newspapers and magazines. Subsidiaries include Digital Chosun, Wolgan Chosun, and Edu-Chosun. Chosun Ilbo and its subsidiary company, Digital Chosun are operating Chosun.com news web site. Chosun.com is ranked as No.1 news web site by Rankey.com which is an internet survey company. Condensed versions of news web services are published in English, Chinese, and Japanese. Japanese news web site(Japanese.chosun.com)is ranked 6th web service in media service by Netratings Japan.

Chosun Ilbo translates as "Korean Daily News". Chosun is the name of the last dynasty in Korean history. (see Names of Korea).

1 History
2 Criticism
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] History

The Chosun Ilbo Establishment Union was created in September 1919, and the Chosun Ilbo company was founded on March 5, 1920. The newspaper was critical of, and sometimes directly opposed, the actions of the pro-Japanese government during the Japanese rule of Korea (1910-1945).

On August 27, 1920, the Chosun Ilbo was suspended after it published an editorial heavily criticizing the use of excessive force by the Japanese police against Korean citizens. This was the first in a string of suspensions.

On September 5 of the same year, three days after the first suspension was lifted, the newspaper published an editorial entitled "Did the Japanese central governing body shut down our newspaper?" For this the Chosun Ilbo was given an indefinite suspension (its second suspension). In June of 1923, Chosun Ilbo celebrated its one-thousandth issue. After many milestones, including being the first newspaper in Korea ever to publish both morning and evening editions, sending international correspondents to Russia, and the first cartoons, the Chosun Ilbo was given its third, indefinite suspension by the Japanese government for printing an editorial opposing Japanese rule of Korea.

In 1927, the Chosun Ilbo's editor was arrested, as was the publisher, who was also the chief staff writer. The offense in this case was an editorial citing the mistreatment of prisoners under Japanese rule. In May of the same year, in response to an editorial criticizing the sending of troops to Shandong, the Chosun Ilbo was suspended for a fourth time, for 133 days. The publisher and chief staff writer, An Jae-hong, was once again imprisoned.

After these events, the Chosun Ilbo remained at the forefront of events, trying to improve general public life and sponsoring social events. This was a turbulent period; within the space of three years, the president was replaced three times. On December 21, 1935, in resistance to compulsory Japanese education and plans to assimilate the Korean people and language, the Chosun Ilbo published 100,000 Korean-language textbooks nationwide.

Over the years, the Chosun Ilbo also started to publish many side publications. One of these was a monthly publication of current events called Youth Chosun, the first of its kind in Korea. Others included its sister publication, Jogwang.

In the summer of 1940, after issue number 6923, the paper was declared officially discontinued by the Japanese ruling government. In the twenty years since its founding, the paper had been suspended by the Japanese government four times, and its issues confiscated over five hundred times.

With Korean independence from Japan in 1945, the Chosun Ilbo went back into publication after a five year, three month hiatus.

[edit] Criticism

Chosun Ilbo is often criticized by many South Koreans for its conservative bias, including uncritical support for the conservative Grand National Party, hostility towards the reformist governments including those of Kim Dae Jung and Roh Moo Hyun. As a result, anti-Chosun Ilbo movements have been staged by media reformists and NGOs for its biased reporting and commercialism.