The Dong-A Ilbo facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Quick facts for kids
The Dong-A Ilbo

First issue on 1 April 1920
Type	Daily newspaper
Format	Broadsheet
Owner(s)	Dong-a Ilbo, Co.
Publisher	Kim Jae-Ho (CEA)
Founded	1 April 1920; 105 years ago (1920-04-01)
Political alignment	Right-wing Conservatism Historical (1920 – 1975): Liberalism
Country	South Korea

The Dong-A Ilbo (Hangul: 동아일보) is a major Korean-language newspaper published every day in South Korea. It started in 1920 and is known as a very important newspaper in the country. It played a big role in Korean society and history, especially when Korea was under Japanese rule from 1910 to 1945. During that time, it was seen as a leader in the movement for Korea's independence.

The Dong-A Ilbo is part of a larger group called Dong-a Media Group (DAMG). This group includes 11 other companies like Sports Dong-a, Dong-a Science, and DUNet. It also owns Channel A, a TV channel that started in 2011. This group covers many different areas, such as news, TV shows, entertainment, sports, education, and movies.

The Dong-A Ilbo works with big news companies around the world. These include The New York Times from the United States, The Asahi Shimbun from Japan, and The People's Daily from China. It has reporters in major cities like Washington D.C., New York, Beijing, and Tokyo. The newspaper also prints special international versions in 90 cities worldwide, including New York, London, Paris, and Frankfurt.

History of The Dong-A Ilbo

Early Newspapers in Korea

Many of the first modern newspapers in Korea appeared during the early Korean Empire period. However, at the same time, Japan was taking more and more control over Korea. Japan forced many Korean newspapers to close. By 1910, when Korea officially became a Japanese colony, only a few newspapers were left. One of these was the Korean-language Maeil sinbo, which was actually run by the Japanese government.

At first, the Japanese government had very strict rules about what Korean newspapers could print. By 1915, the last Korean-owned newspaper, Gyeongnam Ilbo, was forced to close. This left Maeil sinbo as the only Korean-language newspaper allowed in Korea.

New Beginnings After Protests

In 1919, the March First Movement protests happened all over Korea. These protests surprised Japan. The Japanese government stopped the protests with force, but then they started to change some rules to prevent future problems. They announced that a few Korean-owned newspapers would be allowed to start.

The first three newspapers allowed were The Chosun Ilbo (which started in March 1920), The Dong-A Ilbo, and the pro-Japan Sisa ch'ongbo. However, Sisa ch'ongbo closed the next year.

Founding of The Dong-A Ilbo

A journalist named Kim Seong-su, who later became the Vice President of South Korea, applied to start The Dong-A Ilbo with 78 other people. The newspaper published its first issue on April 1, 1920. Pak Yŏnghyo was the first president.

When it started, the newspaper had 23 offices in almost all parts of Korea. By the end of April, it had offices in every province.

The newspaper first printed four pages per issue. Over time, it grew and printed more pages. It even briefly published two issues a day, in the mornings and evenings, which was a first for a Korean newspaper.

At first, the newspaper had money problems. But by April 1924, it had earned enough money to build a new office building. This building was finished in December 1926 and was located in front of Gwanghwamun.

A Popular and Important Newspaper

The Dong-A Ilbo quickly became very successful. It was popular because it shared new ideas from other countries. Working at the newspaper became a respected job. In 1928, the newspaper printed about 40,968 copies. This was much more than other Korean newspapers at the time, showing how popular it was.

Fighting for Independence

During the time of Japanese rule, The Dong-A Ilbo strongly supported the rights of Koreans and the Korean independence movement. Just two weeks after its first issue, it published an article about protests in Pyongyang. This caused the newspaper to be stopped for a short time.

In September 1920, it published an article that the Japanese government thought was disrespectful to Japan. The paper was stopped indefinitely, but it was allowed to print again in January 1921. During this time, in November 1920, a journalist from The Dong-A Ilbo named Chang Tŏkjun [ko] was killed by Japanese soldiers. He was investigating a terrible event where Japanese soldiers killed Koreans in Hunchun, Manchuria. He was the first Korean reporter to die while reporting.

In April 1924, an event called the Sikdowon Incident happened. The Dong-A Ilbo published articles that criticized Korean groups who supported Japan. These groups then threatened the newspaper's president, Song Jin-woo, and executive director, Kim Seong-su, with guns. News of this spread quickly, and Koreans across the country were very angry.

The newspaper was suspended several more times for publishing articles that supported Korean independence or criticized Japanese rule. For example, in March 1926, it was stopped for printing a speech about the anniversary of the March First Movement.

The Sohn Kee-chung Uniform Incident

An issue of The Dong-A Ilbo with blank advertisements (January 1975)

In 1936, an ethnic Korean marathon runner named Sohn Kee-chung won a gold medal at the Summer Olympics in Berlin. However, because Korea was under Japanese rule, his uniform had the Japanese flag on it. Reporters at The Dong-A Ilbo worked together to remove the Japanese flag from Sohn's uniform in a photo and published it in the paper.

The day after the photo was published in August 1936, about 10 journalists from The Dong-A Ilbo were taken to the police station. They were beaten and hurt. The newspaper was then stopped from printing until June 1937.

Forced Closure by Japan

As the Second Sino-Japanese War began in 1937, the Japanese government made rules even stricter in Korea. They censored and put more pressure on The Dong-A Ilbo. For example, the government ordered the paper to remove an image of the Hibiscus syriacus flower (a symbol of Korea) from its logo.

In 1940, the Japanese government announced a policy to have only one newspaper per region. Because of this, The Dong-A Ilbo and The Chosun Ilbo were forced to close on August 10. This left Maeil Sinbo as the only major Korean-language newspaper allowed. Much of the printing equipment and staff from the Korean-owned papers were moved to Maeil sinbo or the Japanese-language paper Keijō nippō.

After Korea's Liberation

On August 15, 1945, Japan announced it would surrender, which meant Korea was free! However, the printing equipment was still held by the Japanese-run newspapers. In September, the United States arrived in South Korea and allowed more freedom for Korean newspapers. They helped close the Japanese-owned papers and gave the printing equipment back to Koreans.

After being closed for five years and four months, The Dong-A Ilbo printed an issue again on December 1, 1945. At this time, there were strong political differences in Korea, and The Dong-A Ilbo supported the right-leaning groups.

During the Korean War

When the Korean War started on June 25, 1950, The Dong-A Ilbo published an issue on June 27, then stopped as Seoul was captured. When Seoul was freed in September, the paper started printing again on October 4. But when Seoul was captured again in January 1951, the paper stopped once more. It then started printing in Busan, which was the temporary capital. They shared printing equipment and struggled to print even small issues.

The Dong-A Ilbo wrote critically about the government at the time, which it called dictatorial. This caused the paper to be stopped again on March 15, 1955, but it was allowed to print a month later.

Fighting for Press Freedom in the 1970s

In the 1970s, The Dong-A Ilbo was seen as one of the best newspapers to work for in Korea. This was partly because of its history of fighting for Korean independence.

The newspaper strongly pushed for more freedom of the press. On October 24, 1974, one of their issues was censored by the government and could not be published. To protest this, The Dong-A Ilbo released a public statement demanding more press freedom.

The government then pressured companies that advertised in The Dong-A Ilbo to stop their contracts. This led to the "blank advertisement incident" in December 1974, where many issues of the paper had no advertisements for months. The newspaper and other media were pressured to fire journalists who wrote critically about the government.

The newspaper tried to make up for its losses with donations and by becoming smaller. By March 1975, many staff members who spoke out for press freedom were fired or left. This was a difficult time for the newspaper, but it showed its strong commitment to free speech. After this, The Dong-A Ilbo became more conservative.

Timeline of Key Events

1920-09-25: First time the paper was stopped for a long time for criticizing Japanese rituals.
1926-03-06: Second time stopped for printing a message celebrating the March 1 protest.
1930-04-16: Third time stopped for printing a letter from a US press supporting Korea.
1931-03-21: Held the 1st Dong-a Marathon Games, Korea's first marathon race.
1936-08-29: Fourth time stopped for erasing the Japanese flag from the photo of Olympic gold medalist Sohn Kee-chung.
1940-08-10: Forced to close by the Japanese government.
1945-12-01: Dong-a Ilbo re-opens after Korea's liberation.
1963-04-25: Opened Dong-a Broadcasting Station, becoming the first media company to own both print and broadcast media.
1964-07-15: Established Children's Dong-a magazine.
1974-10-24: Announced the Free Press Declaration, demanding more freedom of speech.
1974-12-20: Published blank advertisements to protest government pressure on advertisers.
1980-11-30: Dong-a Broadcasting Station closed due to a forced merger by the military government.
1987-01-16: Reported on the torture and death of Park Jong-chul, which helped start the June democracy uprising.
1993-04-01: Changed from an evening newspaper to a morning newspaper.
1996-10-01: Started its internet news service, DongA.com.
1996-12-19: Ilmin Museum of Art opened in the old Dong-a Ilbo newspaper building.
2000-01-01: Moved into the Dong-a Media Centre in the Gwanghwamun area.
2000-12-15: Newspaper museum "Presseum" opened.
2001-07-01: World edition of the paper printed in over 90 cities.
2002-01-01: Started Dong-a Ilbo's mobile services.
2005-08-17: Began printing 32 pages of Dong-a Ilbo in color.

Supporting Women's Rights

In 1933, Dong-a Ilbo started a publication called The New Women (later Dong-a Women). This publication organized events like cooking schools and picnics for wives, giving women a chance to meet outside their homes.

It also printed articles such as "The New Woman and Education" and "Women and Career." These articles aimed to encourage women to take part in society and helped develop women's rights. Dong-a Ilbo also hosted sports events for women, like the "Women's National Tennis Competition," which is Korea's oldest tennis contest.

Awards and Recognition

The Dong-A Ilbo has received several awards for its work:

It was named Korea's Best Brand Award in 2006.
Its President, Sang-man Kim, received the Press Freedom Golden Pen award in 1975.
It was recognized by US Freedom House in 1974 for its efforts in promoting freedom of speech.
Its staff reporters received the Korea Reporter's Award in 1971.

The Dong-A Ilbo Company Today

Who Reads It?

The Dong-A Ilbo prints over 52 million copies.
About 51% of its readers are between 30 and 49 years old.
More than half of its readers live in big cities.
55% of its readers have a university education or higher.

Working with Other Countries

Dong-a Ilbo works with famous news companies like The New York Times and Reuters. They share news articles and videos. Dong-a Ilbo also prints special international versions in 90 cities, including Washington D.C., London, and Paris. It has 22 offices around the world and reporters in 6 cities like New York, Tokyo, and Beijing. You can also read the digital version of the paper in English, Japanese, and Chinese.

Here are some of its partners:

The Times (UK)
Asahi Shimbun (Japan)
People's Daily (China)
Izvestia (Russia)
Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)

Publishing Books and Magazines

Dong-a Ilbo also has a publishing part that creates magazines and books. They publish four monthly magazines, two weekly magazines, and one annual magazine. Their book section translates and shares books from other countries, and also creates popular Korean books.

Some of their magazines include:

Shin Dong-a (a magazine about current events)
Women's Dong-a (a magazine for women)
Dong-a Science (a popular science magazine)
Dong-a Science KIDS
Weekly Dong-a
Weekend
Dong-a Annual

Some of their popular books include:

Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri (a book that won an award)
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson (a very popular book around the world)
Sponge series (Korean books that have sold over a million copies)

New Ways to Share News

Dong-a Ilbo has invested in new technologies to share news. They created DongA.com, which is the online version of the paper with even more content. It allows readers to discuss topics and share their own thoughts. Because the online content was so successful, the company also started mobile services. This lets readers get news on their phones wherever they are.

They also work with Reuters to add videos to their news. With raw video feeds from Reuters, Dong-a can edit and use them. This means DongA.com can reach its readers through text, pictures, and videos.

Community Service

Dong-a Ilbo believes it has a responsibility to help the community. It has a special department that works to raise awareness about arts and sports, and to encourage healthy lifestyles.

The company also has many foundations and scholarships to help students who are less fortunate in the country.

Supporting Arts

Dong-a Ilbo holds yearly competitions for high-quality art and hosts many cultural exhibitions.

International Music Concours (a music competition)
Dong-a Theatre Awards
DongA-LG International Animations Competition
Rembrandt and 17th Century Netherland Painters Exhibition (2007)

Promoting Sports

Dong-a Ilbo hosts yearly competitions for different sports. It started these programs to help promote sports that were not as popular.

Seoul International Marathon
High School Baseball Tournament
Dong-a Swim Meet

Helping Education

Dong-a holds yearly competitions to help bright students. Other parts of the company, like Dong-a Science, have their own educational programs and competitions to reward talented students.

National English Competition (for university and high school students)
National Scientific Essay Contest (hosted by DongA Science)

Charity Work

Dong-a Ilbo has set up many foundations and scholarships for students and children who need help. It also has a foundation that works to promote peace and culture.

Dong-a Dream Tree's Foundation: A scholarship foundation.
Inchon Foundation: A scholarship foundation created to honor Kim, Sung-soo.
21st Century Peace Foundation: Works to promote peace and understanding between North and South Korea.