The Chosun Ilbo

The Chosun Ilbo (조선일보), meaning "Korea Daily Newspaper" and also referred to as The Chosun Daily, is a major South Korean newspaper written in Korean. It ranks among the country’s oldest continuously published papers. Through its subsidiary Digital Chosun, it runs the Chosun.com website, which offers news in English, Chinese, and Japanese.

The paper’s founding union was formed in September 1919, and the first issue appeared on 5 March 1920, launched by Sin Sogu with backing from the Daejong Business Association. Cho Jin-Tae, the association’s vice-chairman, became the paper’s first president later that year. But the association failed to deliver the promised funds, and the partnership fell apart after five months. On 15 August 1920, Yoo Moon-Hwan replaced Cho as president. Financial troubles forced the paper to stop publishing on 6 April 1921, just over a year after its debut.

On 31 July 1940, the paper ran the fourth installment of an editorial series titled “Lessons of American Realism.” Ten days later, after issue number 6,923, the Japanese colonial government ordered the paper shut down. Over its first twenty years, the Japanese authorities had suspended the paper four times and confiscated its issues more than five hundred times before 1932. After Korea gained independence in 1945, the paper resumed publication following a five-year, three-month break.

On 1 March 1999, the paper announced it would switch to horizontal left-to-right writing the next day, just before its 79th anniversary. It also pledged to keep using hanja characters despite the change. That day’s issue (No. 24305) was the last to use the vertical right-to-left style, making it the final mainstream Korean paper to do so. All issues since 2 March 1999 have used the modern horizontal format.

Beyond the daily, the company publishes the Weekly Chosun, Monthly Chosun, Digital Chosun, Edu-Chosun, and ChosunBiz.

The paper has taken a firm stance against North Korea, opposing President Kim Dae-jung’s Sunshine Policy, which aimed to engage the North through cooperation and reduce economic disparities. This position has drawn heavy criticism and threats from North Korea. On 6 April 2019, Deutsche Welle called the paper “an outlet notorious for its dubious and politically motivated” reporting on North Korea. On 31 May 2019, citing an unidentified source, the paper reported that North Korean nuclear envoy Kim Hyok-chol had been executed by firing squad. Two days later, the diplomat was seen at a concert sitting near leader Kim Jong Un. Educational Broadcasting System instructor Choi Tae-seong sued a Chosun Ilbo reporter over an article he said defamed him as a North Korea supporter.

The paper has faced accusations of being “chinilbanminjokhaengwi” (pro-Japanese anti-ethnic activist) due to its coverage during the Japanese colonial period. In 2005, the South Korean government and nationalist civic groups investigated whether the paper had collaborated with the Japanese Empire. From 1938 to 1940, it published articles described as excessively praising the Imperial House of Japan. Until 1987, the paper also reported favorably on South Korea’s military dictatorships.

In 2002, prosecutors sought a seven-year prison sentence and a 12 billion won fine for chairman Bang Sang-hoon, indicted for tax evasion and embezzlement. He was accused of evading 6.2 billion won in gift and corporate taxes and embezzling 4.5 billion won in company funds. Arrested in August 2001, he was released on bail and remained on trial. On 29 June 2006, he was indicted again for evading 2.35 billion won in gift taxes by transferring 65,000 shares to his son via a nominal trust, and for misusing 2.57 billion won in company funds under family members’ names to boost affiliates like Jogwang Publishing and Sports Chosun. The Supreme Court sentenced him to three years in prison, suspended for four years, plus a 2.5 billion won fine for tax evasion and misappropriation.