The Dong-a Ilbo’s Perception of the PRC and Zhou Enlai in South Korea

The Dong-a Ilbo (동아일보), which is a leading newspaper in Korea, was founded in 1920, and it is published to this day. In this chapter, the perception of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Zhou Enlai in Korea was analyzed. Search terms with Zhou Enlai in the title and the newspaper’s editorials, series, contributions, and ordinary news were extracted. The Dong-a Ilbo’s perceptions of the PRC and Zhou Enlai were examined by analyzing these pieces of data. The PRC was not referred to as a single country but as a regime, which was called the CCP, prior to the establishment of diplomatic relations between the PRC and Korea in 1992. The Republic of Korea was referred to as South Choson (南朝鲜) in the PRC, which was due to political confrontations. A foreign policy was presented in the PRC that created a peaceful image, which underscored its role as a diplomatic coordinator, especially in the late 1950s in Eastern Europe. However, the PRC’s foreign policy changes were criticized by Dong-a Ilbo as attempts to change relations in the context of diplomatic isolation and as pragmatic diplomacy. Nevertheless, the Dong-a Ilbo quoted the views of others and articles in the People’s Daily (人民日报) of the PRC, and the newspaper evaluated his personal charm as being a Jack-of-all-trades who displayed political competence.