Press-Party Parallelism Regarding ‘Openness of Agriculture’ During Three Political Regimes (1993-2008) in South Korea

Relying on ‘press-party parallelism’ (Seymour-Ure, 1974) as a theoretical and analytical framework, this study examines the extent to which newspapers ideologically coincided with political parties during three South Korean political regimes (1993-1998, 1998-2003, and 2003-2008). In so doing, this study analyzes editorials by three Korean dailies with ideological diversity and different ownership regarding a long-time controversial issue, ‘openness of agriculture’ embedded in globalization since the1990s. Results reveal that the ideologically conservative newspaper, Donga Ilbo, was parallel to conservative political parties, which is opposite for the progressive newspaper, Hankyoreh. With the somewhat moderate newspaper, Hankook, being inbetween, the two contrasting newspapers, Donga Ilbo and Hankyoreh, confirmed ‘press-party parallelism’ across the political regimes, although Korean dailies have become excessively commercialized since the 1990s. The implications for press-party/state relations are discussed.