Kore Ilbo

The newspaper's precursor, the March 1st Newspaper (Korean: 3·1 신문; Hanja: 3·1 新闻) was first published in August 1922 in response to the brutal suppression of the March 1st Movement by the Empire of Japan.[1] On 1 March 1923, the publishers of that newspaper congregated in Vladivostok, Soviet Union and published Sŏnbong (선봉; lit. "Vanguard").[1][2] It was published from Khabarovsk around 1929 to 1934, then back to Vladivostok.[2]

During the early 1930s, large-scale political purges took place in the Soviet Union, and most of the newspapers staff were arrested, and many died. Its publication was interrupted for around six months during the forced deportation of Koreans in the Soviet Union in the late 1930s, after which the newspaper relocated to Kyzylorda (now in Kazakhstan) around May 1938 and changed its name to the Leninist Banner (Korean: 레닌기치; Hanja: 레닌旗幟; Russian: Ленин кич). Since then, its publication has gone uninterrupted.[1]

The Leninist Banner was the only Korean-language newspaper available throughout the Soviet Union, although On the Path of Lenin (레닌의 길로) was available locally in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. The contents of the paper aligned closely with Soviet messaging, and featured prominently themes of multi-ethnic families, internationalist unification and collectivism, and the lives of Soviet Koreans. It also published literature and poetry from Korean writers. At the time, it was published six times a week, and had branches in cities with significant Korean populations like Tashkent, Dushanbe, and Bishkek. In the 1970s and 1980s, during a boom in collectivized farming among Koryo-saram (Soviet Koreans), the paper had over 40,000 copies in circulation and around 80 employees.[1][2] It is allegedly the first Korean newspapers to use horizontal, left-to-right type, as most others at the time wrote vertical and right-to-left.[1] Around 1978, it relocated to Almaty, where it now remains.[1]

However, the newspaper began a period of decline in the last years of the Soviet Union. Beginning in March 1989, Russian-language pages began occupying a fourth of each edition. It changed its name to Kore Ilbo (lit. The Daily Goryeo) on 31 December 1990, just before the dissolution of the Soviet Union.[3] Despite its name implying daily circulation, it decreased publishing frequency first to five times per week, then later to three times. Every Saturday, it published entirely in Russian under the name Kore (Korean: 고려; Hanja: 高麗).[4] The sudden liberalization of the market and freedom of movement caused economic instability. Many employees left to take opportunities abroad, especially to South Korea. Former regional branches of the Leninist Banner split off and became their own regional newspapers. By 1994, circulation dropped to around 4,000 to 5,000 copies, and publication frequency to once per week, which it now maintains. Of sixteen pages, four are in Korean and twelve in Russian.[1] In late 1999, the Kazakhstan government privatized all state-supported newspapers, leading to the Koryo-saram Association in Kazakhstan to take ownership.[4]

The newspaper began using computers in the mid 1990s, and publishing online articles since the late 2000s. This has allegedly supported international readership of its articles.[1]

Today, the number of Koryo-saram able to speak Korean has significantly decreased, and circulation is now around 2,000 copies. It is now largely supported by government subsidies and support from the Kazakh Korean association.[1][4] It advocates for Korean unification and aligns itself closely with South Korea. It also maintains reporters in Russia and Uzbekistan, and covers stories about Koryo-saram across the former Soviet Union.[1] In 2023, its 100th anniversary was celebrated in an exhibition at Honam University in South Korea.[5]