The Circumstances of the Korean Press under Japanese Ruling and the Formation of Discourse on Freedom of the Press in the 1920s

Abstract

This study examines what discourse was composed for freedom of the Korean press by analyzing related editorials concentrating on private newspapers and magazines published in the 1920s. After Imperial Japan altered its strategy for the governance of colonial Korea from Sward Rule to Cultural Rule, the publishment of private Korean newspapers and magazines were allowed which had been strictly repressed. Newly rising Korean private newspapers were devoted themselves to the formation of discourse for expansion of freedom of press against the control by the Government General of Korea. Editorials of private newspapers and magazines in the 1920s criticized unreasonable control of Korean press carried out by the Government General of Korea. The contents of press-related editorials of Korean private newspapers in the 1920s can be divided into three categories: 1) Demands for freedom of the press; 2) Demands for anamendment of press-related laws such as the Newspaper Law and Publication Law, and; 3) Criticism and protest against administrative and judicial control. The amendment request of press-related laws and the criticism of the irrational administrative and judicial control led to the guarantee of freedom of press and formed the antagonistic discourse against the Government General of Korea which subdued the Korean press.