Representing North Korea in US and South Korean Newspapers: a Corpus-Based Critical Discourse Analysis

Abstract

2017 marks a year in which North Korea has had a dominant position in the news. This study researches the representation of North Korea in US and South Korean newspapers, and aims to answer the research question: Are the different relationships between North Korea and the US, and North and South Korea, respectively, reflected in the North Korean representation in US and South Korean newspapers? A corpus of US news articles on North Korea, and a corpus of South Korean news articles on North Korea were selected, analyzed and compared through the method of a quantitative Corpus Analysis. The results of the Corpus Analysis show that the US corpus represents North Korea as a political enemy and military threat. A similar representation can be found in the South Korean corpus, but goes together with a representation of North Korea as a people with humanitarian problems. These results are then analyzed within their respective discourses through a Critical Discourse Analysis. This analysis shows that the representations of North Korea in both corpora are dependent on several factors and forces such as intergroup histories, intergroup relations and information channels.