Center for Korean Studies

This talk is about the emergence of print capitalism in Korea in the early modern period and its role in the nationalist movement. The first part will examine the confluence of internal and external factors that led to the rise of a modern print industry in the 1890s. The second part focuseson the growth of the print industry after 1905 and its role in resistance against the Japanese. The third part examines the print industry during the early colonial period. At the beginning of the occupation, the Japanese authorities shut down all privately-owned vernacular newspapers, and because of Japan’s repressive publication laws, the print industry experienced little growth during the 1910s. After the March First Movement in 1919, the colonial government implemented the so-called “Cultural Policy” (Bunka seiji) that permitted a limited freedom of the press. The relaxation of publication laws was one factor that led to the explosive growth of the print industry and its development into a true print capitalism in the early 1920s. At the same time, the print industry became the center of domestic colonial politics, with newspapers serving as the headquarters of major social movements.