Communications Media South Korea
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/J COMMUNICATIONS MEDIA SOUTH KOREA " 'A. 1.1 zRefEren c o Cr oo1 656 NS e- BERT IrIjpo..SXy USOM/KOREA COMMUNICATIrONS )1eDUI COMMUNICATION FACTS SOUTH KOREA Pages I. INTRODUCTION 1 .II- FORMAL COMMUNICATION FACTORS 3 A. Population 4 B. Minorities 5 C. Major Ci ies 5 D. Languages and Literacy 7 E. Education 8 F. Students Abroad 12 G. Press 13 H. Periodicals 20 I. Book Publishing 22 J. Radio 25 K. Television 29 L- Films 31 III. INFORMAL COMMUNICATION FACTORS 32 IV. TARGET GROUPS 33 I. INTRODUCTION Including its southernmost islands, the Republic of Korea extends southward 350 miles from the 38th parallel, yet no part of the mainland peninsula is more than 90 miles from the sea. Bordered by communist North Korea on the north, the Yellow Sea on the west anu south, the Sea of Japan to the east and outlying Japanese islands to the southeast, the Republic of Korea contains approximately 38,000 wquare miles of land, of which one-fiftn is cultivated. Ranges of moderately high mountains practically cover ine entire country except for the heavily farmed southwestern portion. In this country, somewhat smaller than the state of Virginia, live over 27,000,000 people (1964 estimate), members of one of the most racially homogenous populations in the world. Believed to be a fusion of migrating peoples from central Asia and the Yellow River basin, the Koreans speak and write a common language that is varied by only seven dialects, all ot whicn are mutually intellisible. Minority groups, except for an estimated 30,000 Chinese, are non-existent. Mass communications media for the country have developed quite rapidly since the Korean War. Tne press and periodical publications are Seoul-oriented. The greatest share of the nation's radio receivers and movie theaters are located in a dozen large urban areas, particularly those adjacent to Seoul-Inchon, Pusan, Taegu, Taejon and Kwangju. Radio primarily, and tne press secondarily, have begun to extend into the countryside, but thae mass of the rural population still depends upon informal means of communication to keep abreast of news. Three TV stations, two in Seoul and one in Pusan, are telecasting an average of six hours daily to an estimated 40,000 (1964) sets. One Seoul station is government owned, and the other two both belong to a private company. The relative abundance of mass media in the nation's urban areas is indicative of the continuing disparity in the way of life between the rural villages and the urban areas. The villages have tended to remain unitary social units in which work, values and attitudes are held in common, while the urban areas are the setting for the swifter breakdown of traditional values and collective orientations. The villages as such remain a stronghold of conservatism in an otherwise unstable, transitional society. Although the urban growth rate far exceeds that of rural areas because of tne steady influx of farm laborers, the majority of the Korean population still lives in rural areas and is dependent upon the land for its livelihood. With the growth of the cities there has been a corresponding growth of the urban working class and of a small but vital middle class composed largely of professional p,-ople. These groups, combined with a tiny upper class of wealthy landowners, bit businessmen and industrialists, and top level government officials, as yet form a minority of the population when compared to Korean farmers and fishermen. The Republic of Korea has not yet reached political stability nor economic self-sufficiency, though there are definite sings of increasing maturity in the former and of encouraging growth in the latter. Following the overthrow of Syngman Rhee in 1960, the elect ed government of Premier Chang Myon ruled for nine months before being toppled ny a military coupe in May o 1901. Badly needed economic reforms were barely begun under the Chang Myon j-overnmenL oefore the nil itary take-over, Lollowinc which the country was ruled by the Supreme CounciL for NationaL Reconstruction with Park Chung-hee at it, iead, wine promisee. that eLections would be held as soon as possible. Thes, occurreu in Lt- lall o' 19b3, with Park elected president, uut no1, L, an ansolute majority. Tue- Park government facea its severe.st CLiSls in the spring o, 196)A, when student demonstrations degenerateu anto riots that were quelled only by the use of force. With normalization of' relations with Japan expected to take place as this is written, the Republic of Korea should enjoy a period of comparative political stability and continued economic growth. -2 II. FORMAL COMMUNICATION FACTORS A. Population - South Korea The Republic of Korea possesses an ethnically homogenous population which, according to 1963 estimates, totals 26.27 million. This population is growing at an estimated 3 per centum per annum, with major concentrations in the Seoul-Inchon anct the Pusan areas and in the fertile plains of tne south. The urban population is growing at approximately dou 'te the rate of the population as a whole, but the country continues to remain preaominantly rural even though it is second on-, to Japan in the rate of urbanization amont Asian nations. The nortality rate is high in Korea (average 13fe expectancy is 47 years) but it is declining. Combined with the high rate of fertility, the declining aeatn rate create,, a major problem for economic growth. In the face of the burgeoning populatio,., ever-increasing amounts of capital investments are needed to maintain growth of capital income and to combat the very heavy anemployment that has plagued all Korean governments since independence. Economic growth of the Republic of Korea has shown substantial improvement the past few years, and the prospects are good that it will continue. Normalization of relations with Japan (expected this year) should provide added impetus to the economic growth of the nation. population - 1963 estimates Total Urban Rural Male Female Per sq. Per sq. mile No. of jmil.) (il.) (mil. (mil. (mil.) mile arable land households 26.Li 10 16.27 13.14 13.13 675 3,150 4,700,000 -3 KOREAN POPULATION - 1963 estimates Total: 26,277,635 Population Age Distribution Age Group Male Female Total Male-Female Absolute % of Pope Absolute % of Pop. -Ratio Absolute % of Pop. 0 - 9 4,274,693 16.3 3,982,960 15.2 51:49 8,257,653 31o-5 10 19 2,803,207 10.7 2,559,621 9.7 52:48 5,363,828 20.4 20 - 29 2,057,138 7.8 2,144,873 8.2 49:51 4,202,071 16.0 30 39 1,466,725 5.6 1,604,031 6.1 48:52 3,070,726 11.7 40 - 49 1,154,916 4.4 1,14,265 4.3 51:49 2,303,980 8.7 50 - 60 776,311 3.0 819,951 3.1 49:51 1,596,272 6.1 Over 60 612,440 2-3 870,661 41:59 1,83005 _6 13,145,289 5Ol 13,132,346 49.9 26,277,635 100.0 B. Minorities - South Korea South Korea has no resident minority problem. Former Japanese residents were repatriated after World War II, and there are only some 30,000 Chinese residents, who constitute less than one-third of one percent of the total population. Most of the Chinese are engaged in ;estaurant and retail trade, and are politically insqgnificant. Non-resident minorities consist primarily of Arnericaii civilian and military personnel. Percent of Total Total Population Location Korean 26.27 mil. 99.008 Throughout the country. Minorities 1/ Majority are in Chinese 22,000 .002 Seoul, Inchon, Taegu and Pusan. 1/ The Nationalist Chinese Embassy estimates that there are approximately 22,000 Chinese in South Korea. Korean sources estimate, however, that there are over 30,000. C. Major Cities: South Korea When Japan assumed control over all of Korea in 1910 there were only eleven cities of 14,000 or more inhabitants, representing some 4 of the population. By 1955 approximately 20% of the population of South Korea lived in cities and towns of 10.,000 or more inhabitants. The impetus for Korean city growth was provided by Japanese economic activity, with cities developing primarily as auministrative and distribution centers for Japanese exploitation of Korean natural resources. Since independence industrialization has been taking place rather quickly in many cities, though they continue to retain their administrative and distributive functions. Much of the growth of Korean cities has resulted from the influx of people from surrounding agricultural regions, and from tie nundreas of thousands of refugees from North Korea anu repatriates from Japan. This has added to the large number of urban unemployed. (Cont'd on Page 6) - 5 C. Major Cities: South Korea (Cont'a from Page 5) (All figures 1964 estimates) Pop. in mils. Radio TV Daily News- Theaters Name ('63 est.) Location Identification sets* sets Papers Capital; educational, Seoul 3.38 NW ROK, near seacoast media, business center n.a. 40,000 14 81 of nation Largest seaport, key Pusan 1.4 SE, ROK, port city industrial & transpor- n.a. 10,000 2 49 tation center Admi-istrative, Taegu .70 South-central ROK educational center, n.a. n.a. 4 26 rail & road hub Seaport for Secul and Inchon -39 NW ROK,on coast adjacent industrial n.a. n.a. 2 15 _areas Administrative and Kwangju .36 SW ROK commercial center n.a. n.a. 2 11 Administrative and Taejon .25 West-central ROK, communications center n.a. n.a. 2 11 _south of Seoul It is estimated there are 2,000,000 radio sets in the ROK, a few thousand of which are wired sets.