This study targets the criticisms and articles related to Korea published by the Liberty Times, one of the three major newspapers in Taiwan, over the last five years, and investigates from what perspective and in what way the Liberty Times reported events in Korea and evaluated the problems Korea was facing. The reason why the Liberty Times was chosen as target for discussions is because it has been found that over the last five years, the Liberty Times, a press medium with a strong tendency toward political independence for Taiwan at all times, published more discourses on Korea compared to the other two major newspapers, China Times and United Daily News, and looked at Korea from a different angle. This also indicates that Taiwan people are changing the way they regard Korea.
Among the Korea-related reports recently published by the Liberty Times, the reports on the change of the Chinese translation of Seoul, the capital of Korea, from "Hancheng" (Han City) to "Shouer", take up the majority, followed by the topics related to the sovereignty over Dokdo, and investigations of past historical events, such as the Cheju April 3rd Incident and the 1980 Gwangju Uprising. Other issues such as historical liquidation of Japanese colonialism and post-IMF rapid economic growth, as well as general issues on the history, culture, and politics of Korea, are also included.
In this study, the most popular topics covered by the Liberty Times will be introduced in order, and the perspective behind these discourses will be analyzed. Although this type of investigation seems to lack organization and detailed planning in terms of the selection of the topics, given the characteristics of press media and the timing factor, the realism and concreteness can be ensured because the reports are based on the news in Korea.