Newspapers

General Info/Culture Magazines

Seoul Selection is a free (meaning no charge to purchase) magazine aimed at the ex-pat community. It is subsidized the Seoul Metropolitan Government and contains a lot of practical and interesting information focusing especially on culture and daily life. It is published once a month. The writers are a mix of Koreans and ex-pats, but the English is excellent. A little harder to find than Kscene, it can be found in Tourist Information Kiosks and various restaurants, particularly in and around Itaewon.

Newspapers

The Korea Herald is one of Korea’s three main English dailies. It is available in various new kiosks and also via home delivery. The paper’ readership is primarily Korea, but it is also the widely read English by the general ex-pat community, more for it’s accessibility than for its quality. The Seoul Times has been working hard recently to reach more ex-pat readers and has hired a number of native English-speaking journalists. It is available in all of the same locations as its competitors and costs the same as The Korea Herald.

JoongAng Daily and International Herald Tribune are bundled together to make them the most popular papers in the ex-pat business community. The JoonAng Daily, which is inserted in the IHT, contains primarily translations of articles, column and editorials from the Korean Joon Ang Ilbo (Daily Korea paper), along with some information. for and about the ex-pat community. As it’s, in fact, two newspapers, the cost is higher than the other two dailies. The JoongAng Daily can be accessed via http://joongangdaily.joins.com
Chosun Daily is available only in Korean in hard copy but an English version is available on line

Television

ArirangTV is an English language broadcasting service aimed at both the ex-pat community in Seoul as well as Korean wanting to practice their English or living abroad as ex-pats. Arirang produces its own news and discussion programs and offer two hours of BBC a day, along with variety shows, subtitled Korean dramas and children’s programs. In-house productions can also be viewed via Internet.

BBC (British Broadcast Corporation) Asia is available to satellite subscribers and on some cable stations, albeit very few. Cable subscribers who receive ArirangTV can view BBC for an hour in the morning and another in the evening. Korean cable companies appear to be restricted by law from offering more than one news channel in English, so most opt for CNN.

CNN (Asia) can be found on both cable and satellite services.

AFN (American Forces Network) provides news from the U.S. and military installations around Asia, as well as American programming. The station can be accessed easily in the Seoul area via cable or satellite. The news is generally in real time, but the rest of the programming is most often on a different cycle than in the U.S.