earticle

영어

This paper aims to analyze Korean media texts about chinil(pro-Japanese). Pro-Japanese has long been a controversial issue in Korea, which is the nearest country to Japan and suffered its colonial ruling. The term chinil in Korea is interpreted in two ways: One is Japanophilism, the concept of which originated from the anti-Japanese policy of the Rhee Syngman administration. The other interpretation is some people’s pro-Japanese actions during the Japanese colonial reign over Korea, the concept of which was advocated by Korean historians. After collecting data from Chosun Ilbo and Hangyoreh Shinmun, two major Korean papers, conservative and progressive respectively, the analyses of keywords, collocates, and concordance as well as close examination of frequent and chinil-related expressions were performed. Differences are found: Chosun pays relatively less attention to the chinil issue, approves less of the concept of chinil as pro-Japanese actions, and is reluctant to unearth and report activities of pro-Japanese collaborators, arguing that they are only past, personal or family history; Hangyoreh takes the chinil issue more seriously, upholds strongly the concept of chinil as pro-Japanese actions, and is enthusiastic about publicizing the pro-Japanese actions, believing that they are anti-national actions.