# South Korea

Government actions against journalists in South Korea

[RSF 2026 rank: 47th of 180](https://rsf.org/en/index). World Press Freedom Index of Reporters Without Borders (RSF); rank 1 is the freest.

The number of entries reflects the depth of this record, not the severity of a country's conduct.

South Korea is in Eastern Asia, Asia. The record holds 1 incident in which the government of South Korea, or an official, court or legislature there, limited journalists' ability to report.

## Tactics used

- [Detention and violence: 1](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents?country=KR&tactic=detention_and_violence), ladder: https://thewaronnews.com/ladders/detention_and_violence
- [Licensing and closure of outlets: 1](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents?country=KR&tactic=outlet_licensing), ladder: https://thewaronnews.com/ladders/outlet_licensing

## Heads of government at the time

- [Chun Doo-hwan: 1 incident](https://thewaronnews.com/leaders/chun-doo-hwan)

## Incidents by year

### 1980

| Date | Incident | Tactic | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| July 31, 1980 | [South Korea's martial-law government purges journalists who resisted press controls](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1980-south-korea-chun-doo-hwan-press-purge) | [Licensing and closure of outlets](https://thewaronnews.com/tactics/outlet_licensing) | Silence | [Chun Doo-hwan](https://thewaronnews.com/leaders/chun-doo-hwan) | Reversed (June 1, 1987) |

Ladders: https://thewaronnews.com/ladders. Timeline: https://thewaronnews.com/timeline/country/kr.

Download incidents in South Korea. CSV, JSON or Markdown. CC BY 4.0; credit "The War On News, thewaronnews.com".
- CSV: https://thewaronnews.com/countries/kr?format=csv
- JSON: https://thewaronnews.com/countries/kr.json
- Markdown: https://thewaronnews.com/countries/kr.md

Source page: https://thewaronnews.com/countries/kr. The War On News, CC BY 4.0.