| The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the characteristics of news coverage of North and South Korea, to compare the news frames over time, and to explain the differences in coverage with the theories of news framing and international relations. Using three online databases, the headlines and full-texts of Korean news covered by the five English language newspapers, the New York Times (USA), the China Daily (China), the Mainichi Daily News (Japan), the Moscow Times (Russia), and the Times (UK), are analyzed for the periods of January 1990–December 1998.; The results of multiple methods of content analysis revealed that the five newspapers framed the Korean issues by three themes: security, economy, and unification. The three thematic frames were selectively emphasized depending on the events to report and the major powers' relationships with the two Koreas. The Cold War-style news frame continues to dominate the selection and highlighting of ‘security related news’ of Korea in the 1990s. The diplomatic cross-recognition pattern of the major powers toward North and South Korea was not fully reflected in the news coverage. Whereas the ‘economy-oriented’ framing by the Chinese and Russian newspapers toward South Korea was conspicuous, the American and Japanese newspapers maintained the ‘security alarming’ Cold War frame, particularly on North Korean nuclear and missile threats. The New York Times did not frame the news in the direction to ease the tensions of Korea by highlighting crisis-bound issues. The most representative symbols in the news were “ nuclear, talks, war, missile, Kim IL Sung, food” to the North and “trade, bank student, President, Hyundai, protest” to the South. By analyzing the evaluative modifiers for Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il, Kim Dae Jung, Kim Young Sam, and Roh Tae Woo, the images of the five Korean leaders were presented with a three-dimensional conceptual map. In addition, the structure of international relations around the Korean peninsula was examined through semantic network analysis.; This dissertation suggests that the major international media's coverage of Korea can be a reflector and a significant determinant toward the process of Korean unification in the coming 21st century. |
