fake news
North Korea Reporting: Riddled With Errors, Even in Neighboring South Korea
It was a riveting story. On Aug 29, 2013, South Korea’s biggest newspaper Chosun Ilbo ran what it claimed was an exclusive: Hyon Song-wol, a singer and rumored ex-lover of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, had been executed for starring in and selling pornographic videos. That report went viral,
Face-Eating 'Zombie' Probably Not on Drugs
It’s Monday morning, you’re back at work, tired and bored already and… what?! The top-trending news term on portal site Naver is “Zombie drug.” Irresistible. Click. Cue a string of headlines reporting a story originally run by broadcaster SBS, the gist of which is this: A Southeast Asian
Expect More Fake News This Election Season
Last week, weekly magazine Sisa Journal reported that a group supportive of former president Park Geun-hye, the People’s Rally Movement for Rejection of President Park Geun-hye’s Impeachment, is funding far-right media outlets frequently accused of spreading fake news. Four conservative newspapers — Future Korea, Nocut Ilbe,
“Fake News” Nudges Senior South Koreans Toward Social Media
Amid the nation’s political turmoil, elderly South Koreans are losing trust in conventional news. As an alternative, they are increasingly turning to social media such as popular messaging app KakaoTalk and YouTube that young people favor. But though the elderly may be using the same platforms as their younger
In Rumor We Trust: Proliferating Fake News in South Korea
South Koreans are used to hearing sentences that end in hadeora, a verb meaning “it is said that….” This particular way of phrasing is something of a cop-out, though. It conveys information without taking ownership of the fact. And given that Korean verbs do not require a subject, it is