Abstract
The South Korean press is living through ‘a golden age’, largely because of the sweeping democratic reforms which started in mid-1987. But ‘all the news is not good’ so far as the adaption of the Korean press to a changing Korean society is concerned. In many ways, the international problems with the Korean press will turn out to be more intractable than the external ones. Press responsibility and ethics demand more sustained attention than ever from Korean journalists. The unethical ‘chonji’ (cash gifts) practices of many Korean journalists are beneath the dignity of the Korean press as a whole. Also, the ‘open market of ideas’ concept of press freedom in a democracy repudiates the modus operandi of the ‘kijadan’ (press club) system.