Media Discourse on the Japanese History Textbook Controversy of 1982 From the Perspective of Foreign Policy and Media Frame

This paper’s purpose is to consider a media-foreignpolicy nexus on the history perception issues of Japan-SouthKorea relations. Previous studies demonstrate that the mediatends to cover the pronouncements of political elites and that themedia faces certain difficulties when covering secret foreign policyprocesses. This proves that the media has a negligible effect on theforeign policy process. However, in terms of a linkage betweenforeign and domestic politics, the media more likely focuses onpublic opinion in its coverage of foreign policy. With regard toJapan–Korea relations, previous studies indicated the importanceof the media in the issue of history perception. This paper focuseson the Japanese history textbook controversy of 1982 andexamines how the media covered the debate from the perspectiveof justification