Cross-border journalism between South Korea and Japan

A tension between transnational and national journalism permeates the history of journalistic border-crossing between Korea and Japan. The two nations institutionalized modern journalism in tandem, thus sharing a similar journalism system. Their similar systems, characterized by exclusive press clubs, resulted in another distinctive cross-border practice: routinized transnational news production based on the exchange of foreign correspondents and formal partnerships among classical newsrooms. However, cross-border journalism between the two nations is highly susceptible to bilateral diplomatic relationships; in particular, post-colonial issues have long affected the direction and extent of cross-border journalism. Presently, routinized types of border-crossing between Korea and Japan are partly transforming amid technological development, which facilitates more intimate and closely knit cooperative journalistic production.