Distant Partners: The Coverage of the Koreas in Poland

• Published in: Journal of contemporary Eastern Asia Vol. 20; no. 1; pp. 44 - 72
• Main Authors: Marczuk, Karina Paulina, Lee, Hyelim, Gluch, Sylwia
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Korean
• Published: 2021
• Subjects: Polish-Korean relations; Poland; press; Korea
• ISSN: 2383-9449

This study analyses North and South Koreas' coverage as framed by the main Polish press titles from 1989 to 2019. The main method applied is a computational textual analysis of press articles based on frequency, correlations and co-occurrences. The purpose is to map the topics of the examined articles in the context of relations between Poland and the two Koreas in various areas, predominantly political and economic relations. Emphasis is placed on the impact the carmaker Daewoo's investment in Poland in the mid-1990s had on bilateral Polish-South Korean relations. First, the authors argue that Korean issues in the Polish press, mainly in the second half of the 1990s, particularly concerned economic affairs. Secondly, they argue that after Poland's accession to the European Union in 2004, the country's interest in the two Koreas decreased, and since that time has remained at a more or less constant level. Finally, the authors discuss the outcome of the research in the context of the main developments in Polish-Korean relations, taking into consideration the results of a Polish public opinion survey presenting the international linkages between national public opinion and foreign policy.