The Korea Times

South Korean center-left

Background

The Korea Times was founded on November 1, 1950, by Helen Kim, then president of Ewha Womans University, with an initial editorial team drawn from Ewha's English-literature faculty; it debuted as a two-page tabloid five months into the Korean War. In April 1954, Chang Key-young — then head of the Chosun Ilbo and later founder of the Hankook Ilbo — acquired the paper, linking it to what would become the Hankook Ilbo Media Group, which published it for roughly six decades. During the authoritarian Syngman Rhee era the paper initially maintained close government ties but later drew presidential anger by criticizing official interference, placing it under financial pressure. After democratization the paper adopted a more independent editorial posture. An embezzlement scandal involving Hankook Ilbo Media Group leadership in 2013–2014 forced a sale; Dongwha Enterprise, a wood-products and building-materials manufacturer with no prior media holdings, purchased both The Korea Times and Hankook Ilbo around 2015. Media Bias/Fact Check rates the outlet left-center in political leaning with high factual credibility, while Wikipedia characterizes it as broadly centrist. As the only major English-language daily based in Seoul, it serves expatriates, foreign correspondents, diplomats, and internationally oriented Korean readers, covering domestic South Korean affairs and US-Korea relations with particular depth.

Sources

1. The Korea Times — Wikipedia
2. The Korea Times — Bias and Credibility — Media Bias/Fact Check
3. Hankook Ilbo — Wikipedia
4. Hankook Ilbo Media Group — Wikipedia
5. Korea Times History — The Korea Times (self-published)
6. About Dongwha Group — The Korea Times
7. Trump's tariff remonstrations (editorial) — The Korea Times

Profile compiled 2026-07-23; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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