• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2004.02a
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• pp.140-142
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• 2004

Since the April of 1978, Korea has strongly relied on the nuclear energy for electricity generation. As of today, eighteen nuclear power plants are in operation and ten are to be inaugurated by 2015. The installed nuclear capacity is 15, 716 MW as of the end of 2002, representing 29.3% of the nation's total installed capacity. The nuclear share in electricity remains around 38.9 at the end of 2002, reaching at the level of 119 billion kWh's. New power reactors, KSNP's (Korea Standard Nuclear Power Plant) are fully based on the domestic technologies. More advanced reactors such as KNGR (Korea Next Generation Reactor) will be commercialized soon. Even though the front end nuclear cycle enjoys one of the best positions in the world, there have been some chronical problems in the back end fuel cycle. That's the one of the reason why we need more active R&D programs in Korea and active international and regional cooperation in this area. The everlasting NIMBY problem hinders the implementation of the nation's radioactive waste management program. We expect that the storage capacity for the LILW(Low and Intermediate Level radioactive Waste) will be dried out soon. The situation for the spent fuel storage is also not so favorable too. The storage pools for spent fuel are being filled rapidly so that in 2008, some AR pools cannot accommodate any more new spent nuclear fuels. The Korean Government in strong association with utilities and national academic and R&D institutes have tried its best effort to secure the site for a LILW repository and a AFR site. Finally, one local community, Buan in Jeonbook Province, submitted the petition for the site. At the end of the last July, the Government announced that the Wido, a small island in Buan, is suitable for the national complex site. The special force team headed by Dr IS Chang, president of KAERI teamed with Government officials and many prominent scholars and journalists agreed that by the evidences from the preliminary site investigation, they could not find any reason for rejecting the local community's offer.

• Korean journal of communication and information
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• v.37
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• pp.7-42
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• 2007

There has been growing debate over the current crisis of Korean journalism especially since 1997. While identifying primary causes as 'lack of credibility and public accountability,' however, this paper claims that self-regulation initiated by enlightened and professionalized journalists is a plausible solution. This paper thus pays attention to U.S. graduate journalism schools which provide specialized program about business/economic/financial news. For this, in identifying commonalities of the programs in terms of education goals, geographical/academic resources and course works, this study wanted to elicit meaningful implications for media education. It was suggested in conclusion that not only would Seoul be an ideal place for combining theoretical and practical training, but such programs in New York and Columbia university might be creatively applied to Korean journalism school. Finally, the author hopes that this review will be a good starting point for envisioning graduate level of journalism school in Korea.

• Korean journal of communication and information
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• v.81
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• pp.189-224
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• 2017

The case of 'Paik Jong-moon's Taped Conversation,' has presented "an important and serious challenge to the freedom of the press and democracy" in South Korea. Nevertheless, this case has not been reported by the mainstream news media. It has also been forgotten without a proper fact-finding or investigation by regulatory agencies, like The Foundation for Broadcast Culture, The Korea Communications Commission, or The National Assembly. This study aims to examine why the above has happened through in-depth interviews of reporters and TV producers, senior journalists, former and incumbent commissioners of the broadcasting regulatory agencies, and experts of the industry, as well as literature research. Here, I present three answers. First, I found two reasons the mainstream press has ignored this incident. 1) It serves for political interests instead of reporting truth. 2) Public broadcasters' watchdog role has been neutralized. Second, regulatory agencies like The Foundation for Broadcast Culture, The Korea Communications Commission and The National Assembly are ruled by political tribalism. The ruling party's members of the National Assembly and these agencies were reluctant to investigate allegations surrounding Paik Jong-moon, such as illegal dismissals, illegal intervention in programming or production, illegal recruitment and illegal business deals. That's because they considered CEO Paik an ally. Using their majority power, they have rejected the request from opposition-affiliated commissioners or from opposition lawmakers to investigate the allegations. Third, there were no alternative forces within the public broadcasters to unveil the truth. In conclusion, the legal and institutional shake-up of corporate governance is urgently needed for public broadcasters and broadcasting regulatory agencies.

• Korean journal of communication and information
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• v.32
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• pp.295-332
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• 2006

This study inquires at behavior and attitude of gatekeepers at major Korean media in the process of selecting and covering newsmakers, with focusing on factors, paths and practices in making news on the people. The study assumes that gatekeepers' social networking process with social elites, based on birth places, alma mater and kinship, plays great role in making people in the news. The study applies methods of in-depth interviews with people-page gatekeepers and content analysis of news on newsmakers. The in-depth interviews and content analysis unveil that people-page gatekeepers tend to support high society and social elite group. Furthermore, through the process of news-making, the gatekeeper group shares social capital such as economic exchanges and socio-political influences with social elite group. The result of interviews and analysis confirm that social networking based on personal affiliation plays as an important factor in selecting and covering newsmakers. With in-depth analysis of news contents, the study finds out that social elite groups of top government officials, corporate CEOs, medical doctors, lawyers, judges, prosecutors, college professors, cultural celebrities and journalists, who are predominantly male, appear on people pages much frequently out of proportion. The content analysis also reveal that 'personal news,' which cover personal and private life or unilaterally promote newsmakers predominate in terms of frequency and amount over socially-important or pubic-interested 'public news.' In terms of news values, fragmentary news composed of sensational, personal and gossiping elements appear more frequently than socially-meaningful news with strong social issues and public messages.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.256-270
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• 2011

This study was designed to explore how learners' participation develop if provided with opportunities for various scientific practices and experiences in writing science magazine articles as an extra-curricular club activity and what factors facilitate these participation development. Data from participant observations, in-depth interviews with students, and documents were used to extract the common characteristics of the practices. The learners' development was categorized into 3 stages in terms of participation in the community of practice: peripheral participation, transitional participation, and full participation. As participation develops, situational interest developed to individual interests and value attachment. Students sought to get ideas from every day life, and finally, in the stage of full participation, advances in writing showed the characteristics of knowledge transformation. Best of all, the participants enjoyed and valued their participation showing identities as journalists. The nature of science magazine article, external scaffolding, and internalization through enjoyment and value attachment appeared to be decisive factors that facilitate the development of participation. Student's enculturation of writing for learning offers a possibility that continue to do so, even after they have left formal schooling and make a basis for lifelong learning.

• Korean journal of communication and information
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• v.30
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• pp.239-273
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• 2005

This study compares the Korean and U.S. media's coverage of the No Gun Ri massacre, analyzing their usages of sources in the stories and explaining by the perspective of media sociology why they differed in them. For the comparison with the AP's report, we selected only the reports of the Korean media which dealt with the incident itself. It was found that most of the Korean media utilized a very small number of sources, and that they relied on the victims alone. In contrast, the AP's sources were much more numerous drawn from both the victims and offenders. As a result, the Korean media failed to ensure the 'diversity of sources' and to illuminate the whole picture of the incident, although they had started to report it far earlier than the AP. From the depth interviews with the reporters, through the framework of media sociology, it was found first at the personal level, that the difference was brought about by the divergent news evaluation. It seemed that the Korean journalists regarded the incident with relatively lower news value than their U.S. counterparts. Next, at the intra-organizational level, it was conceded, neither did the Korean new media have so flexible news collecting system, nor so murk man-power and resource as the AP, which were required for the coverage of such an incident. The Korean media had not established the convention to utilize various sources with conflicting interests. Last, at the extra-organizational level, the Korean news media's coverage was still influenced by the self-censorship mechanism due to the ideologies of 'pro-Americanism' and 'anti-communism', even though the democratization of Korean society itself enabled the sensitive incident to be dealt with eventually by the media.

• Korean journal of communication and information
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• v.27
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• pp.93-122
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• 2004

An examination of the previous works regarding the concept of "fairness" in the journalism revealed that the concept is widely used but remains inadequately defined. Furthermore, there is much less agreement about the characteristics defining "fairness" in the literature. Thus it has often caused disagreement among people who have different political perspectives in the judgment about any media coverage. I suggest a reconceptualization and extension of the construct "fairness" in order to reduce the ambiguity and conflicts in the judgment of fairness among people. Most importantly, drawing on the concept of "autonomy," I attempt to fill in the gap in the model of "fairness." According to the logic of "autonomy," the "fair" press can not exist without the freedom of the press. In other words, all external/internal constraints, which intrude on the freedom of the press, encroach the "fairness" of the press. Thus, the freedom of the press is necessary condition for the fairness in the journalism. However, the freedom of the press is not enough to realize the fairness in the journalism. It needs the sufficient rendition, which is the "autonomy" encompassing the ability of news organization, journalists, and audiences that they resist to any constraints against neutral value. Consequently, the emphasis on the "autonomy" which keeps neutral value perspectives will contribute to reshape the framework for evaluation of "fairness" in journalism.

• Korean journal of communication and information
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• v.29
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• pp.233-269
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• 2005

The purpose of the study is to explore the characteristics of lawsuits against investigative reporting programs of the broadcast media. This study proposed three research questions: (1) what were the characteristics of court derisions on the investigative reporting programs? (2) what were the reasonings on which judges rely in the lawsuits for a right of reply? (3) what were the critical issues and how the libel laws were applied in balancing between the freedom of the press and the protection of individual rights. To answer these questions, the study employed quantitative and qualitative methods analysing 35 related cases. This study revealed that investigative reporting programs must deal with the Issues of 'public figures' and 'matters of public concern' to be protected under the freedom of the press. The study also found that the broadcast media must prove legitimate public interests and the truth of the facts to prevail in a case. In 1999, the Constitutional Court of Korea held that pubic figures in libel cases must be regarded differently from private figures. In accordance with the decision, the Supreme Court has applied differing criteria for public figures in libel cases. However, courts have not set a clear definition of the public figure yet. To advocate the freedom of the press, as the results of this study indicate, TV producers and journalists should behave lawfully in the course of newsgathering and provide the opportunities of reply for their news sources.

• Korean journal of communication and information
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• v.66
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• pp.59-86
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• 2014

This study explored how rumor is diffused via Twitter and how the characteristics of rumor affect the interactivity among users in the Korea-U.S. FTA case. A key word search located three issues as major ones related to the Korea-U.S. FTA: appendectomy myth, collapse of health insurance, and increases in medicine prices. The arousal of rumor has two dimensions: fact and expression. The fact arousal was the highest in the issue of 'appendectomy myth', and the expression arousal the highest in 'increases in medicine prices'. The rumor diffusion took the 'explosive wave' in the issue of appendectomy myth, the 'latent wave' in the issue of increase in medicine prices, and the 'repetitive wave' in the issue of collapse of health insurance. Correlation analyses revealed a high correlation between the arousal intensity of rumor and the user interactivity in the issue of collapse of health insurance. The study showed that Twitter took a role of diffusing negative messages about the Korea-U.S. FTA. Results implies that government officials and journalists pay attention to Twitter for sensing the public opinion when building policies and managing crises.

• Korean journal of communication and information
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• v.47
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• pp.50-73
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• 2009

A tendency to ignore the existence of public space in Korea under the Japanese colonial period seems to be driven from nationalist historiography in which all historical events under the colonial power have to be interpreted in terms of militant controls and resistances against them. Historical approach to mass media of that period has lasted to be saturated with the tendency and forced history students to stick to the nationalist guidelines. Struggles against Japanese imperial power by national-capital-operated newspaper have been a main menu of studies on the period's communication. The media were often hailed as fighting the colonial power for nation's independence. The present thesis aims to criticize the nationalist point of view and to reveal that nationalist interpretations may miss a variety of historical information. Even under the severe surveillance of colonial police some journalists tried either to inform officially or to smuggle into informed groups. The colonized society could experienced fields of public-ness throughout the practices of such as media fields, cultural fields, political fields. Those fields, of course, didn't come from the graceful favor of the colonial power but from the construction of the colonized. The public-ness seemed to be born for the easiness of control, but became later a constructed field of public-ness with which the colonized semiotically wrestled the power and grew a modern type of political (un)consciousness. Depicting what happened just before 815 liberation day in Korea the present paper showed that the less nationalist historiography can render help to those seeking political practices of the colonized in a micro-level.