This study aims to analyze how Korean media coverage of China has changed over the past three decades since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Korea and China. Since the normalization of diplomatic relations in 1992, the two countries h...
This study aims to analyze how Korean media coverage of China has changed over the past three decades since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Korea and China. Since the normalization of diplomatic relations in 1992, the two countries have expanded exchanges in diplomatic, economic, and sociocultural areas. However, their relationship has developed into a complex one in which cooperation, conflict, and competition coexist, particularly in the context of issues such as the THAAD deployment, the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S.-China strategic competition, and supply chain restructuring. Against this background, this study examines how China has been constructed as a meaningful and emotional object in Korean media by analyzing China-related news coverage in terms of news topics, images of China, domestication, othering, and emotional expressions.
For this purpose, this study selected four sample years—1994, 2004, 2014, and 2024—and conducted a quantitative content analysis of 531 China-related articles published in the conservative newspaper Chosun Ilbo and the progressive newspaper Hankyoreh. The analysis period was set as Monday to Friday of the first week of February, the second week of May, the third week of August, and the fourth week of November in each sample year. The articles were collected from BigKinds, Naver News, and the Chosun Ilbo online archive. Articles in which China was mentioned only as a background or secondary element were excluded, and only those in which China appeared as a major actor or central object were included in the analysis. To ensure coding reliability, the researcher and a second coder conducted double coding on 57 randomly selected articles from the total sample. The overall average Cohen’s Kappa coefficient was .801, indicating an acceptable level of intercoder reliability.
The findings are as follows. First, China-related news coverage was mainly centered on diplomacy and security, as well as economy and industry. Among the 531 articles, diplomacy and security accounted for the largest proportion with 184 articles (34.7%), followed by economy and industry with 163 articles (30.7%). By period, diplomacy and security coverage was relatively prominent in 1994 and 2014, while economy and industry coverage accounted for the largest share in 2024. Second, the image of China tended to shift from an object of cooperation and opportunity to one of conflict and threat. In particular, in 2024, the image of China as an object of conflict and threat became dominant. By newspaper, Chosun Ilbo showed a higher tendency to represent China as an object of conflict and threat, whereas Hankyoreh more frequently presented China as a neutral and factual information object. Third, in terms of domestication, the emphasis on China’s impact on the Korean economy and industry increased over time. This indicates that China-related issues have increasingly been interpreted not merely as internal Chinese affairs or international events, but as issues directly connected to Korean companies, industries, markets, trade, and supply chains. Fourth, regarding othering, threat and hostility increased significantly in 2024. This suggests that China is domesticated as an object closely connected to Korea, while at the same time being othered as an external object of caution when such connections are framed through threat, damage, conflict, and anxiety. Fifth, anxiety and concern were the most dominant emotional expressions in China-related coverage. Of the 531 articles, anxiety and concern accounted for 210 articles (39.5%), showing the highest proportion, and this tendency was especially pronounced in 2024.
In sum, Korean media coverage of China over the past three decades has been mainly structured around diplomacy and security, as well as economy and industry. The image of China has tended to shift from an object of cooperation and opportunity to one of conflict and threat. In particular, in 2024, the increase in economy and industry coverage, the growing emphasis on China’s impact on the Korean economy and industry, the expansion of threat-based othering, and the dominance of anxiety and concern appeared together. These findings suggest that China-related news coverage goes beyond the simple reporting of events and constructs China in connection with Korea’s economic, security, and emotional concerns. This study is significant in that it provides an integrated analysis of China-related coverage through the dimensions of news topics, images, domestication, othering, and emotional expressions, thereby revealing how Korean media have represented China within particular meanings and emotional contexts. However, since this study is limited to four sample years and two newspapers, caution is needed in generalizing the findings to all Korean media coverage of China. Future research should further examine a wider range of media outlets and incorporate audience studies.