대한민국임시정부에 대한 미국 언론의 보도기사 분석 －『뉴욕 타임스』를 중심으로－

Abstract

In this paper, I tried to examine the recognition and report attitude of the U. S. major newspapers, specially “The New York Times” about the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea. With such a review, it is possible for us to have the objective viewpoint and understanding of the international status of the Provisional Government during the period of independence movement. The articles directly related to the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea were published in “The New York Times” as follows; During the period of the Samil Independence Movement (1919~1921) 16 articles were published, and before and after the Manchurian Incident 6 articles were published, and during the Pacific War (1941~1945) 25 articles were published, and 1 article was published in 1922, 1924 and 1940 each. In total 50 articles were published. In other major newspapers like “The Christian Science Monitor”, “The Washington Post”, “The Los Angeles Times” and others, the number of the articles related to the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea was not seriously different from that of “The New York Times” on the quantitative side. These newspapers’ reports related to the Provisional Government were broadly similar - presenting the organization and activities of the Provisional Government. They laid emphasis on delivering the news acquired from Shanghai and Peking in China, San Francisco, a base for Korean independence movement in the U. S., and Washington D. C. without any special comments. It seems that they had to consider the political sensitivity which the establishment of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea might have except that they had difficulties to ascertain the truth of the news. At that time the official position of the U. S. government as well as the Japanese government regarded the affairs of Korea as the affairs of Japan. But the attitude of the American press changed together with the outbreak of the Pacific War in December, 1941. The matter of concern and interest of the American press was as follows; What kind of contributions can Korean independence movement forces make to the war against Japan? And how to deal with Korean affairs after Japan’s defeat? The newspapers in the United States expected that Korea and Korean people took the initiative in confronting with the Japanese expanding aggressive war. But as the issue of the trusteeship for Korea was featured in the front with Cairo Declaration on the 1st of December, 1943, the Provisional Government and the Independence Army couldn’t attract the attention of the American press any more. During this period, the international status of the Provisional Government was falling and the cause that gave rise to such situation was as follows; (1) no contact with the people in Korea (2) internal discord in the Provisional Government and inactivity of the project to expand the Independence Army (3) lack of a legal basis as a government in exile. With the approach of Japan’s defeat, the American press had skeptical perspectives on the representative nature of the Provisional Government. In the end, this could not but have a negative influence on a movement of the Provisional Government to obtain international approval.