A South Korean Progressive Outlook on the Middle East Conflict: Contextualizing Hankyoreh’s Coverage of the Gaza War

Public and academic discourse on South Korean politics tends to rely on the dichotomy between the “conservative” and the “progressive”camps. This discourse relies on commonly held perceptions related to domestic issues and to South Korea’s relations with the U.S. and with North Korea. However, what does “progressivism” mean when the context is neither of these issues? With this question in mainstream-”conservative” press, there was no added value to the “progressive” coverage of Hankyoreh in terms of both information and challenging viewpoints. The current dogmatic South Korean “conservative-progressive” discourse thus requires re-thinking, or at least further sophistication. mind, the paper contextualizes how Hankyoreh - a newspaper that is considered a familiar “progressive” force - covered the 2008/9Gaza War. Along with the aim of shedding fresh light on the prevalent discourse at hand, the paper will also contribute to the existing literature on South Korean perceptions on the Middle East conflict. The paper argues that against the backdrop of an already critical South Korean public, as well as a critical, yet relatively more open, mainstream-”conservative” press, there was no added value to the “progressive” coverage of Hankyoreh in terms of both information and challenging viewpoints. The current dogmatic South Korean “conservative-progressive” discourse thus requires re-thinking, or at least further sophistication.