There are several English-language newspapers widely distributed throughout South Korea. Korean magazines written in English, local specialist publications and international magazines are also available. Additionally, the numerous blogs and expat websites provide an enormous source on anything you’d like to know about Korea.

[box_dark]1. Newspapers[/box_dark]

Printed newspapers

The Korea Times

One of the largest-circulation English-language newspapers in Korea. Well-regarded for its up-to-date services on foreign and business news, including economy and finance.
KRW 1.000 a copy.
koreatimes.co.kr/

The Korea Herald
Another major English-language Korean newspaper, is currently being distributed in over 80 countries around the world.
KRW 1.000 a copy.
koreaherald.com/

JoongAng Daily and International Herald Tribune
Quality newspaper providing daily, culture and human interest stories. Also it reports in depth on the foreign community in Korea including business coverage and social activities.
The paper is affiliated with International Herald Tribune, which is distributed along with the JoongAng Daily.
KRW 2,000 a copy.
koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/

Jeju Weekly
Weekly newspaper from island of Jeju.
jejuweekly.com

Online newspapers

Access to articles is free, unless stated otherwise.

Digital Chosunilbo
Online presentation of the Korean daily The Chosun Ilbo.
english.chosun.com/

Dong-a Ilbo
Online service providing Korean news in multiple languages (English, Japanese, Chinese).
english.donga.com/

The Hankyoreh
Independent and progressive newspaper, committed to journalistic freedom, democracy, peaceful coexistence and national reconciliation between South and North Korea.
The newspaper’s ownership is quite unique, too: it’s not part of business conglomerate like many other newspapers, but it’s owned by about 62,000 shareholders who joined the original drive for the paper’s inception.
english.hani.co.kr

The Kyunghyang Shimun
This newspaper investigates activities of the government and Chaebols (conglomerates). They are monitoring abuses of human rights and violations of personal freedom.
english.khan.co.kr/

Yonhap News Agency
Major Korean news service, delivering news to customers, newspapers, broadcasting firms, government agencies and many more. News items range from politics to entertainment.
english.yonhapnews.co.kr/

The Seoul Times
Online English newspaper for foreigners in Korea.
theseoultimes.com

The Korea Economic Daily
Economic newspaper, mostly read by Korean office workers and university students.
english.hankyung.com/

MK Business News (Maeil Business newspaper)
Business newspaper.
news.mk.co.kr/english/

Daily NK
Newspaper with a focus on the future of North Korea. Daily NK sees the people of North Korea as separate from their regime and emphasizes a peaceful unification with South Korea based on democracy and the realization of human rights.
dailynk.com/english/

Korea IT News
Most prominent daily newspaper specializing information technology in Korea, for the purpose of providing a variety of IT portal services on the internet.
english.etnews.com/

Dynamic Busan
Online news on Busan
dynamic.busan.go.kr

Foreign news on Korea:

Asia Times (online newspaper) – Korea section
Publications that report on and examine geopolitical, political, economic and business issues. Look at these issues from an Asian perspective, as opposed to a Western one.
atimes.com/atimes/Korea.html

South Korea News.Net
This online newspaper assembles news on the South Korea area, including stories from around the region and beyond.
southkoreanews.net/

Seoul Daily
Media community that collects news articles from all over the world. Is part of The World News (WN) Network
seouldaily.com/

South Korea News – Ein News (subscription)
Industry, business, and political news.
Subscription: $ 49.95 a month.
world.einnews.com/country/southkorea

Official News:

Korean Government Homepage
Official news, articles on Korean culture and history, paintings, music, and more.
korea.net/

[box_dark]2. Magazines[/box_dark]

Printed Magazines

SEOUL Magazine
Monthly travel and culture magazine that provides in-depth reporting on living in Korea, on travelling, events and cultural news.
magazine.seoulselection.com/

KOREA Magazine
This magazine, published by the Korean Culture and Information Service, provides general information with an emphasis on Korean policy.
korea.net/Resources/Publications/KOREA-Magazines

10Mag
A monthly lifestyle magazine that focuses on activities for the foreign community. All kinds of leisure activities are covered such as exhibitions, concerts, sporting events, dining, nightlife, travel.
10mag.com

Groove Korea
Monthly magazine that covers a range of topics including community, music, sports, travel and food.
groovekorea.com/

Koreana
A quarterly magazine on Korean art and culture. The magazine also deals with other subjects such as the environment and lifestyle.
koreana.or.kr

Korea Post
Monthly magazine on economy and business, agriculture, tourism and society activities. There’s a section dedicated to women as well.
koreapost.com

Global Asia
The print edition of Global Asia is published quarterly, while the internet edition is updated continuously with new articles and contributions.
Global Asia is a publication of the East Asia Foundation, founded in Seoul, and its aim is to give voice to the global dimension of what’s happening in Asia through providing a platform for distinguished thinkers, policymakers, political leaders and business people to debate the most important issues in Asia today.
globalasia.org/

BusinessKorea
Monthly magazine on Korea’s business, economic and financial worlds directed to Korea watchers overseas as well as Korea’s own top decision-makers and business circles.
businesskorea.net/

Eloquence
A monthly art magazine for and about creators that deals with photography, fashion, design, sound, video and many more.
eloquence.co.kr/‎

Art & Seoul
Fairly new non-periodical arts magazine that offers coverage of anything art-, music-, or design-related in Seoul.
artandseoulmag.com

K-Soul Magazine
Quarterly magazine on Korean pop culture (K-pop), with reviews of K-pop concerts, information about going to live shows, drama information, filming locations, and guides for how to take part in the hallyu wave culture.
ksoulmag.com

Busan Haps
Bi-monthly print magazine that provides the reader with the most up-to-date events, attractions, restaurants and nightlife around Busan.
busanhaps.com

Online Magazines

Korea Focus
Monthly webzine, featuring commentaries and essays on Korean politics, economy, society and culture, as well as relevant international issues.
koreafocus.or.kr/

WorknPlay Magazine
As the name suggests, this online magazine provides a free job search facility but maintains an up-to-date entertainment guide too. Essential information for expatriates and short-term visitors is given as well.
worknplay.co.kr/

[box_dark]3. Television and Radio[/box_dark]

Arirang TV and Radio (English, Chinese, Spanish, Korean, Arabic, Russian, Vietnamese, Indonesian)
This government-funded broadcaster provides news and entertainment on Korea for the international community.
arirang.co.kr

KBS World TV and World Radio (Korean Broadcasting System) (English, Chinese, Japanese, French, Spain, German, Other)
Public broadcaster providing informative and entertaining programs to the audience.
english.kbs.co.kr/tv

SBS (Seoul Broadcasting System) (Korean, English, Chinese, Japanese)
Apart from its function as public broadcaster it also distributes a range of corporate channels throughout Korea.
global.sbs.co.kr/en/main/main.htm

AFN (American Forces Network) Pacific
Popular entertainment programs and command internal information networks used by the United States Armed Forces Radio and Television Service (AFRTS).
test.afnpacific.net/Home.aspx

EBS (Educational Broadcasting System) TV and Radio
Broadcasts educational contents for every age
global.ebs.co.kr/eng

TBS (Traffic Broadcasting System) Radio
24-hour English radio for citizens of Seoul and surrounding areas, on local information, current affairs, entertainment and culture.
tbs.seoul.kr/ENG/

SkyLife (Korean and English)
Digital satellite broadcaster that provides over 150 specialized channels from anywhere in the country of movies, education, children’s programming, sports, news and music with high definition picture and sound.
skylife.co.kr/eng

MBC (Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation) TV and Radio
Public broadcaster both active in Korea as in about 30 foreign countries.
aboutmbc.imbc.com/english/

[box_dark]4. Blogs[/box_dark]

When it comes to blogs on Korea, it seems like the choice is never-ending.
The following blogs are among the best rated expat-blogs:

– On the Seoul Searching blog by Mimsie Ladner you can find articles on destinations, travel tips, shopping, entertainment, culture, events, food and people. Mimsie’s blog is appealing for the eye and is – not unimportant – well organized.
myseoulsearching.com/

– Written by Seoul Selection’s own magazine editor Robert J. Koehler, The Marmot’s Hole presents a healthy crossroads of Korea and the Western world. Robert maintains a vigilant eye on Korean media as well as western perspectives. Apart from political, social and media matters, the author also does travel-related photo essays from time to time.
rjkoehler.com/

– If you want to consult a blog on Korean food, ZenKimchi is the place to be.
The experienced team of writers and experts working on ZenKimchi has been consulted for and has written for media such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and several Korean journals.
zenkimchi.com/

– Chris in South Korea (although he recently left South Korea) is packed with information and is an excellent resource for any expat.
chrisinsouthkorea.com/

– Run by a young Canadian married couple, Eat Your Kimchi is the place to go for information on K-pop and quirky videos on life in Korea. Although their quirkiness can be a little too much at times, their enthusiasm is contagious.
eatyourkimchi.com

– Named the “Best Korean Travel and Culture Blog” by the Korea Tourism Organization, Discovering Korea by Matt Kelley is definitely worth a look around. It’s an excellent source of information for travel destinations in and outside of Seoul.
discoveringkorea.com/

[box_dark]5. Other useful websites[/box_dark]

– Galbijim Wiki is a collaborative Wiki community which holds almost thousand articles of advice on living, working, and traveling in Korea.
wiki.galbijim.com/Main_Page

– Korea4expats is a very detailed and informative website, providing virtually everything one needs to know on living and working in Korea.
korea4expats.com/

– AngloINFO, similar to Korea4expats, holds a great amount of information on living, working and other things you need to know in Korea.
seoul.angloinfo.com/

– Koreabridge serves as an information- and community-portal for all of Korea. It collects already existing Korea-related content and also provides a space for the users to add some information themselves.
koreabridge.net

– The Official Korean Tourism Organization provides a great deal of useful information on its website. Admittedly, you might have to do some additional research yourself – sometimes the links to other websites or contact information isn’t up to date – but the website’s basically a travel guide on its own.
The website is available in other languages apart from Korean and English: Chinese, Japanese, French, German, Spanish, Russian, Thai and Arabic are provided as well.
english.visitkorea.or.kr

Korean culture advocate with big dreams

Publisher Hank Kim talks about devoting his life to publishing English-language books about Korea

[/box_dark]

Hank Kim, CEO and president of Seoul Selection, poses for a photo during an interview with The Korea Herald at his bookstore in Sagan-dong, Seoul, on May 23.(Kim Myung-sub/The Korea Herald)

 

“We don’t have the exact data,” says Jin Young-gyun of the Kyobo Book Center. “There are about 50,000 or 60,000 different categories of books, such as fiction, history, tourism and so on. But we don’t have a category for, say, English-language books published by local publishing houses.”

Kim is more than aware of this. Among some 70 books he’s published since the early 2000s, 40 of them were published out of his own pocket.

“I’ve been doing extra work to do what I want to do, because I don’t make money by doing what I want to do,” he says.

“I’ve been translating, designing business cards and English-language brochures so I have enough money to publish the books I want to see in bookstores. In fact my life would have been a lot easier if I only concentrated on such ‘extra’ work. But that would go against my initial plans and dreams.”

Seoul Selection signed a direct wholesale distribution deal with Ingram Content Group, the world’s largest wholesale distributor of publisher content, in October last year.

As a result Seoul Selection titles are now available for order through Ingram at more than 35,000 distribution channels worldwide. Seoul Selection is the only Korean publishing house with a wholesale distribution agreement with Ingram.

“We were rejected at first with no explanation,” he says. “So we sent them an email asking for explanation, stressing that our Seoul tour guidebook is selling better than the one by Lonely Planet on Amazon, and that we’ve published books that deal with Korea-U.S. relations, such as the ‘Korean War in Color.’ A week later, we got the offer.

The inside view of Hank Kim’s Seoul Selection Bookshop in Sagan-dong, Seoul. (Seoul Selection)

 

Signs posted on a pole outside the entrance ofSeoul Selection Bookshop point out the direction and distance of major international cities. (Seoul Selection)

 

Aside from publishing books about Korean culture and tourism, Kim has been also active in raising awareness on a variety of political and social issues, including North Korea and national security, women who were forced into sexual slavery for the Japanese military during World War II, and multicultural families in contemporary Korea.

His interest in Korea’s modern history and politics is obvious in Seoul Selection’s latest and upcoming projects. The publishing house’s recently published English-language novel, “The Voices of Heaven,” deals with a young girl’s experience going through the Korean War.

In 2009, he published “Vietnam Moment,” which is comprised of photographs taken in Vietnam as well as short excerpts from the country’s folk poems, proverbs and idioms, after learning about hardships experienced by mail-order brides from Vietnam living in Korea.

He is planning to publish an English edition of Korean author Moon Young-sook’s teen novel about “Kkotjebi” ― a term referring to North Korean homeless children in constant search for food and shelter ― as well as a book put together by American mothers of Korean adoptees.

“Hank really does have a sense of mission with Seoul Selection,” says Robert Koehler, chief editor of SEOUL, an English-language culture and travel monthly published by Seoul Selection.

Koehler has been working with Kim since 2005.

“He takes on a lot of book projects not necessarily because they are sure moneymakers, but because they are books that need to be written. His enthusiasm for promoting knowledge of Korea is infectious, too, getting those of us like me who work for him.”

Kim’s efforts certainly have been appreciated by expats and English language readers living in Korea. “I think a lot of my foreign customers felt sorry for me, for running this book shop which doesn’t necessarily make you money,” Kim says. “Once one of them put a hand-written note on the wall which read: ‘Buy something! Keep Hank in Business.’ And other customers would write ‘I did’ after making their purchases.”

Kim remembers certain scenes, including the one where one of his loyal customers, an American military general serving in Seoul, stormed into the bookstore completely covered with snow on a freezing winter day. He had walked all the way from Gwanghwamun subway station, in spite of the snow, though he could have easily chosen to hit the Kyobo Book Center ― which is connected by a short underground passage to the station.

“He said ‘Whenever I have books that I need, I might as well buy them here,’” Kim says.

The cozy book shop was also once adored by South African English teachers working in Ilsan, a satellite city located northwest of Seoul. One of them started holding social gatherings there after falling in love with the place.

International adoptive parents of Korean children also make frequent visits to the bookstore, in their attempt to learn more about Korea.

“I met one of the adoptive mothers about 10 years ago,” Kim says.

“She was here in Korea to buy hanbok at Namdaemun market for her little kid. She happened to visit the bookstore during that stay, and would come here every time she makes her visits to Seoul. And she is one of the mothers who are organizing an English language book about Korean culture from the perspective of international adoptive parents.”

Kim has also written a book about Korea in English. Last year he released “Ask a Korean Dude,” a collection of his monthly columns published in SEOUL, in which he answers all kinds of questions from foreigners about Korea.

“Hank has done more to help promote the understanding of Korea overseas than any government agency,” says professor Robert J. Fouser at Seoul National University. “He is a true 21st century national treasure!”

Korean-born American author Maija Rhee Devine, who published her first novel “The Voices of Heaven” through Seoul Selection, says he makes a strong impression.

“I found him to be a very frugal, humble, down-to-earth person who hates anything that’s pretentious,” she said. “Recently I asked him to autograph his book ― ‘Ask a Korean Dude’ ― for me and he humbly refused. It really surprised me. He doesn’t like to promote himself. I once asked him if he was a Buddhist and he said he’s not.”

Devine says while she is touched by Kim’s enthusiasm for his work, the two share different views on Korean culture and international politics.

“I think he has this tendency to romanticize Korean culture a bit,” she said.

“His approach is ‘We have a lot of great things to show, so we might as well promote the good.’ He’s also defensive of Korea’s position in international politics, especially with Japan’s war crimes. I, on the other hand, try to remain objective.”

“I am not saying Korean culture is the best culture in the whole world,” Kim said.

“I am saying our culture should be regarded with as much respect as other cultures are. We have the collective experience of all kinds of human sufferings: We’ve gone through colonization, war, poverty, forced migration to Kazakhstan and Mexico. And I think that very collective experience is the strength of Korean culture and literature. And I think our history including industrialization, democratization and the sex slaves during World War II must be shared with our neighboring countries in Asia. They are not just a collective Korean experience, but also an important history of Asia.”

Kim’s dramatic career shift ― from a journalist of 14 years to a Korean culture advocate ― was prompted by widespread lack of knowledge among English speakers about Korea and what was going on there.

In 1999, Kim, visited the British Embassy in Seoul as a reporter. Speaking to the English staff working there, he was stunned to learn that none of them knew about “Shiri,” the Korean film that was breaking box office records at the time.

“It was very shocking,” he says. “The film had already been watched by one quarter of the whole population. The whole country was buzzing about it. And yet these men just had no idea.”

In 1995, he was taking time out from his job to pursue a master’s in journalism and public affairs at American University in Washington. There, he met David Kim, the current Luce Scholars Coordinator for the Asia Foundation who was then working for the Korea Society, a non-profit organization dedicated to the promotional awareness of Korea-U.S. relations.

“He asked me if I knew CNN in 1994 had set a satellite dish on the roof of the Press Center in Seoul, thinking there would be a war,” he said. “I was shocked that I had had no idea about it, though I was working as a reporter in Seoul when that was supposedly happening.

“I thought war could happen any minute on the peninsula. And in order to secure peace in this country,” he continues. “I thought, we need as much foreign investment as possible. And to attract foreign investment, you need to promote culture, I thought.”

Kim says he dreams of establishing an English-language internet radio station one day ― one that features cultural issues and happenings in Asian countries.

“Asian countries also have a lot of differences to celebrate,” he said. “I have no idea when it will actually happen, but if it happens, I’d like to focus on the diversity of Asia and its cultures.”

Seoul Selection Bookshop

Located near Gyeongbokgung Palace, Seoul Selection Bookshop is the place to go if you are looking for English-language books about Korea. The cozy store offers books, Korean DVDs with English subtitles, traditional Korean music CDs, and all kinds of second-hand books in English.

Coffee and other drinks are also available. The store is open from 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., Monday to Saturday. It is near Anguk Subway Station Exit No. 6. For more information, call (02) 734-0506 or visit www.seoulselection.com.

By Claire Lee (dyc@heraldcorp.com)