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The Foreign Ministry's United Nations division officials discuss international affairs while reading The Korea Herald. |
Marking its 70 years, The Korea Herald has played a unique role of being a window between South Korea and the outside world.
The Herald was established in 1953, when South Korea’s first President Syngman Rhee commissioned the creation of an English newspaper that would function as the voice of the new-born republic for an international audience. It led the government-funded Korean Information Service to found a four-page tabloid called The Korean Republic.
The name was suggested by the KIS chief Gal Hong-gi and approved by Rhee himself, who had first considered "The New Republic" before finding out that a left-leaning magazine in the US was already being published under this name.
The front page story of the inaugural issue published on Aug. 15, 1953 featured Rhee’s national address to mark Korea’s Liberation Day, which is also the day the newspaper was founded.
The name The Korean Republic lived on until 1965, but its similarity with the fledgling nation’s official name -- the Republic of Korea -- sparked some complications.
“At one conference held in Southeast Asia in 1964, everyone mistook The Korea Republic's chief for South Korea’s president,” said Yun Ik-han, a former editor-in-chief.
As a result, The Korea Herald has been the name of the daily since 1965.
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Two foreign nationals read an extra issue of The Korea Herald covering the death of North Korea’s founder, Kim Il-sung, on July 9, 1994. |
The Herald has undergone substantial growth since its founding days, when it had a staff of just three reporters, a managing editor and one photographer. In March 1975, it became the first newspaper in the country to adopt a computerized typesetting system – now a standardized method of printing in Korean media -- that transfers computer-generated characters to light-sensitive paper and film.
The Herald has been an independent daily since 1988, when the largest shareholder position was taken over by the now-defunct corporate group Daenong. The Herald's ownership has changed hands multiple times until eventually being acquired by the current owner, the Jungheung Group, in 2019.
The newspaper was among the earliest among domestic news outlets to launch online services beginning in 1995.
Groundbreaking work by The Herald not only took place in the print room and on the web, but also in the newsroom.
In 1996, with the nation on the precipice of a financial crisis, the newspaper appointed Kim Hye-won to head its national desk, making her the first woman to head a national desk in Korean media. The following year, Lee Kyong-hee became the first female managing editor in Korean media history. Lee would later go on to become the first female editor-in-chief.
As of 2023, 54 journalists of Korean and other nationalities work in The Herald’s newsroom, headed by managing editor Lee Joo-hee -- who is also among the 37 women on staff.
The Herald was also the first English news outlet in the country to produce news via AI, when its business news site, The Investor, adapted automated journalism for a period.
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Editors from the Asia News Network meets with then-President Moon Jae-in on the sidelines of the 2019 ANN board meeting hosted by The Korea Herald in Seoul. |
Production of The Herald’s pages has always been a joint operation between Korean and foreign national journalists, but the newspaper took another step by becoming the first Korean media company to appoint a foreign national to its editorial leadership. Brian Bain, a veteran journalist of 40 years from the UK, was named the newspaper’s managing editor in 2004.
With the newsroom over time shifting from paper-based to mobile and online, The Herald has been widening its scope to incorporate nontraditional platforms. They include its weekly podcasts that assist English learners through news articles, and expansion into various social media platforms such as Instagram and YouTube.
The Herald has been producing various types of video content beyond print news. The latest venture in this regard is the “Life in Korea” series, an interview series featuring international residents in Korea sharing their experiences of cultural differences and language learning.
As part of the newspaper’s aim to connect with a broader global media network, The Herald regularly cooperates with the Asia News Network, a regional alliance of 22 news outlets across Asia. It is the only Korean representative in the group.
* Korea Herald's milestones
- Aug. 15 1953
The Korea Republic, today The Korea Herald, prints its first issue as a four-page tabloid.
- 1965
Renamed The Korea Herald
- 1975
Becomes the first newspaper in South Korea to adopt a computerized typesetting system
- 1988
A key change in ownership opens a new era of independent reporting, free of government influence
- 1998
Appoints Lee Kyong-hee as editor-in-chief, becoming the first major daily in South Korea to have a female chief of the newsroom
- 2004
Appoints Brian Bain, a foreign national from the UK, as managing editor, a first for Korean media
- 2018
Launches the annual Biz Forum
- 2021
Installs the Climate Clock, which shows the time left to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, on the roof of The Korea Herald's headquarters in Yongsan, Seoul
