Identity Framing of South Korea in the Japanese Press: The 2019 Boycott Movement

Sammanfattning: The South Korean boycott movement of Japan that emerged over the summer of 2019 represents a drastic decline in Japan-South Korea relations. This thesis focused on how the boycott movement was framed in the five big national Japanese newspapers over a 50-day period in August and September 2019 in order to understand how the Japanese press constructs South Korean identity vis-àvis Japan. Drawing on social constructivism and theories on Self-Other discursive representations in international relations, the thesis conducted a framing analysis by examining the identity frames and topic frames used by the newspapers. This illustrated how two opposing narratives of South Korea existed in the Japanese press relating to the boycotts: a negative, which constructed Korea as uncivilised/emotional, unlawful/untrustworthy, unreasonable, distinctively Asian, and responsible for the deterioration of Japan-Korea relations, and a positive where Korea was viewed as a valued partner who is just another country, not anti-Japanese, and not individually to blame for the declining relationship. These narratives were, however, represented differently between the newspapers, and the thesis thus argued against the claim that the Japanese press is homogeneous.