Vantage Point: Developments in North Korea

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Vantage Point:
Developments in North Korea
Vantage Point - Developments in North Korea - Magazine cover.jpg
Cover the last issue of the magazine, in 2016, before being discontinued.
CategoriesNews and analysis about North Korea (DPRK)
FrequencyMonthly
Publisher Yonhap News Agency
FounderNaewoe News Agency
First issueMay 1978
Final issue
Number		January 2016
39:1
Country South Korea (ROK)
LanguageEnglish
Website english.yonhapnews.co.kr/vantage/
ISSN 1228-517X
OCLC 923949595

Vantage Point: Developments in North Korea was an English-language magazine entirely focused on North Korean news and analysis, published monthly between 1978 and 2016. [1] [2] [3] It was published by the South Korean Naewoe News Agency and later by the Yonhap News Agency. [2] [1]

Contents

Scope and readership

Vantage Point provided news coverage and analysis on political, social, and economic developments in North Korea. [2] [1] [3] It was mainly used as a source for researchers on North Korean affairs. [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]

History

Vantage Point began to be published in 1978. [1] [11] It was the most prominent periodical created by the Naewoe News Agency. [1] [12] [13] [2] This agency was a South Korea government-affiliated organization, created in the mid-1970s, and tasked with publishing information and analysis on North Korea from a South Korean perspective through books and journals. [12]

Naewoe was known to have close links with South Korea's intelligence agency, [12] and according to the British academic and historian James Hoare, Naowoe's publications became "less partisan after the late 1980s and are often useful source of information on North Korea". [13] In 1999 Naewoe merged with Yonhap News Agency, [14] with materials on North Korea continued to be "distributed for free as part of the government's propaganda effort". [13] According to the U.S. Library of Congress "Originally a propaganda vehicle that followed the government line on unification policy issued, Naowae Press became increasingly objective and moderate in tone in the mid-1980s in interpreting political, social, and economic developments in North Korea". [2]

Hoare further stated of Vantage Point that "until the late 1990s, it was somewhat partisan in the selection and interpretation of news, from 1998 to 2008, it became more neutral. Under the Lee Myung-bak government since 2008, something of the old approach returned." [12] Despite these limitations, academic researchers have frequently used Vantage Point as a source for their research. [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]

In 1996 Vantage Point became freely available on-line. [12] [15] In 2008 in "commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the publication's first issue" Vantage Point launched a companion weekly e-mail newsletter on North Korean news. [16]

In 2016, in the first issue of the 39th annual volume, Park No-hwang, President-publisher of the Yonhap News Agency announced the discontinuation of the publication of the magazine. [3] Park assured Vantage Point readers that Yonhap would continue to provide comprehensive coverage on North Korea, by stating: "This discontinuance, however, will never mean weakening Yonhap's North Korea news service. On the contrary, Yonhap, as a leading news agency in South Korea, has the grave obligation to play a part in helping materialize the Korean people's ardent wish for the reunification of the Korean Peninsula by providing our readers at home and abroad with accurate news on the reality of the communist North and the South Korean government's North Korea policy". [3]

Availability and successor platform

Physical prints are available in various libraries. [11] As of 2017, PDFs of all issues since 2010 are made available online in Yonhap's website. [15] [17] Yonhap continues to provide coverage on North Korea [3] in the form of news articles published in its website. [18]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Vantage point". Singapore: National Library Board. Archived from the original on November 19, 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 U.S. Library of Congress Federal Research Division (1992). Matles Savada, Andrea; Shaw, William (eds.). South Korea: A Country Study (Area Handbook series) (4th ed.). United States: Library of Congress. p.  249. ISBN   978-0844407364.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Park, No-hwang (January 2016). "Discontinuance of Publication" (PDF). Vantage Point: Developments in North Korea. Yonhap News Agency. 39 (1): I. Archived (PDF) from the original on November 19, 2017. Retrieved November 18, 2017.
  4. 1 2 Helgesen, Geir; Høyrup Christensen, Nis (2007). North Korea 2017: Assisting development and change (Report commissioned by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs) (PDF) (Report). NIAS – Nordic Institute of Asian Studies. ISBN   978-87-7694-038-6. Archived (PDF) from the original on November 19, 2017.
  5. 1 2 Günther Hilpert, Hanns; Krumbein, Frédéric (Spring 2016). "Human Rights in North Korea: A European Perspective". The Journal of East Asian Affairs. Institute for National Security Strategy. 30 (1): 67–92. JSTOR   43829410.
  6. 1 2 Kim, Young C. (January 1981). "North Korea in 1980: The Son also Rises" (PDF). Asian Survey - A Survey of Asia in 1980: Part I. University of California Press. 21 (1): 112–124. JSTOR   2643670.
  7. 1 2 Kihl, Young Whan (January 1985). "North Korea in 1984: "The Hermit Kingdom" Turns Outward!". Asian Survey - A Survey of Asia in 1984: Part I. University of California Press. 25 (1): 65–79. JSTOR   2644057.
  8. 1 2 Rhee, Sang-Woo (January 1992). "North Korea in 1991: Struggle to Save Chuch'e Amid Signs of Change". Asian Survey - A Survey of Asia in 1991: Part I. University of California Press. 32 (1): 56–63. JSTOR   2645199.
  9. 1 2 Kim, Suk Hi; Lim, Eul-Chul (Fall 2009). "The Kaesong Inter-Korean Industrial Complex: Perspectives and Prospects". North Korean Review . 5 (2): 81–92. doi:10.3172/NKR.5.2.81.
  10. 1 2 Kong, Tat Yan (2018). "China's engagement-oriented strategy towards North Korea: achievements and limitations" (PDF). The Pacific Review. 31: 76–95. doi:10.1080/09512748.2017.1316301.
  11. 1 2 Vantage point : developments in North Korea. WorldCat. OCLC   923949595.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 Hoare, James E. (2012). Historical Dictionary of Democratic People's Republic of Korea (series: Historical Dictionaries of Asia, Oceania, and the Middle East). United Kingdom: Scarecrow Press - Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group. p. 271. ISBN   978-0810861510.
  13. 1 2 3 Hoare, James E. (2015). Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Korea (series: Historical Dictionaries of Asia, Oceania, and the Middle East) (3rd ed.). United Kingdom: Rownman & Littlefield. pp. 337–338. ISBN   978-0810849495.
  14. ↑ Hoare, James E.; Pares, Susan (2005). A Political and Economic Dictionary of East Asia (series: Political and Economic Dictionaries) (1st ed.). London: Routledge - Taylor and Francis Group. p. 348. ISBN   978-1857432589.
  15. 1 2 "VANTAGE POINT Developments in North Korea". South Korea (ROK): Yonhap News Agency. 2016. Archived from the original on November 19, 2017. Retrieved November 18, 2017.
  16. ↑ "N.K. Newsletter". South Korea (ROK): Yonhap News Agency. Archived from the original on November 19, 2017. Retrieved November 18, 2017.
  17. ↑ "Vantage Point January 2010 VOL. 33 NO. 1". South Korea (ROK): Yonhap News Agency. 2010. Archived from the original on August 16, 2012.
  18. ↑ "N.K.News". South Korea (ROK): Yonhap News Agency. Archived from the original on 2017-08-31. Retrieved November 18, 2017.

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