{{Short description|South Korean daily newspaper}} {{Use mdy dates|date=September 2025}} {{Infobox newspaper | name = Kyunghyang Shinmun | logo = The kyunghyang shinmun logo.svg | image = | caption = | type = Daily [[newspaper]] | format = [[Broadsheet]] | founded = 6 October 1946 | owners = Kyunghyang, Co. | political_position = {{nowrap|[[Centrism|Centre]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kim |first1=Seung-kyung |last2=Kim |first2=Kyoung-hee |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qBzHBQAAQBAJ |title=The Korean Women's Movement and the State: Bargaining for Change |date=January 10, 2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781317817789 |page=1996 |quote=Hankook Ilbo, Kukmin Ilbo and Kyunghyang Sinmun are considered centrist; and Hankyoreh is progressive.}}</ref> to [[Centre-left politics|centre-left]]<ref>{{cite book|editor=Chang Kyung-Sup |title=Developmental Liberalism in South Korea: Formation, Degeneration, and Transnationalization |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r8OWDwAAQBAJ&dq=centre-left+Kyunghyang&pg=PA193 |quote= ... For instance, Kyunghyang Daily, a center-left newspaper, ran a special series on “Saying the Welfare State” for nearly two months, ... |year=2019 |page=193 |publisher=[[Springer Science+Business Media|Springer]]|isbn=9783030145767 }}</ref><br />[[Liberalism in South Korea|Liberalism]]<br />'''Historical (1966 – 1998):'''<ref name="격량">{{Cite news|script-title=ko:폐간→복간→강제매각→독립언론 '격랑의 기록' |url=https://www.khan.co.kr/article/200910291757125 |newspaper=Kyunghyang Shinmun|date=2009-10-29|access-date=December 24, 2021}}</ref><br />[[Anti-communism]]<br />[[Conservatism in South Korea|Conservatism]]<br />[[Military dictatorship|Pro-military]]<ref name="격량"/>}} | headquarters = [[Seoul]], [[South Korea]] | editor = Jo Ho-yeon | circulation = 350,000<ref name="khabout"/> | website = {{URL|http://www.khan.co.kr/|khan.co.kr}} | language = Korean | module = {{Infobox Korean name/auto |hangul=^경향_신문 |hanja=京鄕新聞 |child=yes }} }} {{Liberalism in South Korea|Media}} The '''''Kyunghyang Shinmun''''' ({{Korean|hangul=경향신문}}) is a major daily [[newspaper]] published in [[South Korea]]. It is based in [[Seoul]]. The name literally means ''[[Urbi et Orbi]] Daily News''.<ref name="khabout">{{Cite web|title=Who is the Kyunghyang Sinmun (Kyunghyang Daily News)|url=http://www.khan.co.kr/aboutkh/engkh.html|url-status=dead|access-date=October 6, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222185040/http://www.khan.co.kr/aboutkh/engkh.html|archive-date=December 22, 2015}}</ref>
==History== ''Kyunghyang Shinmun'' was founded in 1946 by the Catholic Church,<ref name="khabout"/> which explains its name. Before the Korean War, it was edited by Fr. Peter Ryang, a refugee from the North, and its circulation was 100,000.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=oIMbAAAAIBAJ&pg=3388,1078109|title=Korean Priest Who Fled Iron Curtain Preaches Here|website=The Pittsburgh Press|date=May 18, 1950|access-date=June 25, 2010}}</ref> ''Kyunghyang Shinmun'' was temporarily closed down in May 1959 by the [[Syngman Rhee|Rhee]] administration on grounds of having printed "false editorials",<ref>{{Cite news|title=Opposition Paper Closed in Korea; News Falsification Charged {{!}} Shutdown Protested by U. S. Embassy|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1959/05/02/archives/opposition-paper-closed-in-korea-news-falsification-charged.html|url-access=subscription|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=May 2, 1959|access-date=June 25, 2010}} (fee required for full article).</ref> but revived after the pro-democracy [[April Revolution]] of 1960.<ref name="khabout"/> As of today,{{When|date=September 2025}} the newspaper is no longer associated with the Catholic Church.<ref name="khabout"/>
In the mid-late 1950s, it applied for a commercial television license. The plan was likely discarded.<ref name=tvfactbook1958>{{cite web |url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-TV-Digest/Factbook-50s/Television-Factbook-1958-Spring-Summer.pdf |title=Television Factbook |date=1958 |accessdate=6 February 2026 |page=290 }}</ref>
In 1974, ''Kyunghyang Shinmun'' joined forces with [[Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation]] (MBC), thus forming the new Munhwa Broadcasting-Kyunghyang Shinmun Company. The partnership lasted until 1981, when the two companies were separated due to the Basic Press Act.
It later came to be owned by the [[Hanwha]] ''[[chaebol]]'' in 1990,<ref name="Gunaratne">{{Cite book|title=Handbook of the media in Asia|last=Gunaratne|first=Shelton A.|publisher=Sage Publications|year=2000|page=[https://archive.org/details/handbookofmediai0000unse/page/620 620]|isbn=978-0-7619-9427-5|url=https://archive.org/details/handbookofmediai0000unse/page/620}}</ref> but Hanwha relinquished its control of the newspaper after the [[1997 Asian financial crisis]], at the same time as Hanhwa's competitor [[Hyundai Group|Hyundai]] gave up its own daily, the ''[[Munhwa Ilbo]]''.<ref name="Gunaratne"/>
==Current operations== In 1998, ''Kyunghyang Shinmun'' became an independent newspaper with employee ownership.<ref name="khabout"/> The CEO is elected by the employees; the editor-in-chief, though appointed by the CEO, must be approved by a majority of the journalist-employees.<ref name="khabout"/>
The newspaper employs 600 people, including 240 journalists and maintains foreign bureaus in Washington, D.C., Tokyo and Beijing. It reports 1.3 million daily visitors to its website and 6.2 million daily page-views. The company also publishes a daily sports newspaper (''Sports Kyunghyang''), a weekly news magazine (''The Jugan Kyunghyang'') and a monthly lifestyle magazine for women (''The Lady Kyunghyang'').<ref name="khabout"/>
''[[The Hankyoreh]]'' and ''Kyunghyang Shinmun'' are generally considered "liberal" or "moderate progressive".<ref name="khabout"/>
==See also== * [[List of newspapers in South Korea]]
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{Official website|http://www.khan.co.kr/}} {{In lang|ko}} * {{Official website|http://english.khan.co.kr/}}
{{Newspapers in South Korea}} {{Authority control}}
[[Category:Korean-language newspapers]] [[Category:Centrist newspapers]] [[Category:Liberal media in South Korea]] [[Category:Newspapers published in Seoul]] [[Category:Newspapers established in 1946]] [[Category:Daily newspapers published in South Korea]]