Veteran journalists fight for Asia

AsiaN publisher Lee Sang-ki

By Lee Min-hyung

Hope for peace in Asia was the driving force behind the launch of an online news portal three years ago, bringing a group of Asian journalists together.

The portal, AsiaN, has differentiated itself by cooperating with 150 veteran journalists from 50 countries to make Asia a better and safer place. Some Asian opinion leaders also write for AsiaN. They include professors, columnists and even former national football coach Hong Myung-bo.

Tuesday marks the portal’s third anniversary. AsiaN publisher Lee Sang-ki, 56, has played a central role in leading the portal and its monthly magazine, Magazine N.

“Asia is the most disputed continent in the world,” Lee told the Korea Times at his Seoul office on Wednesday. “A group of journalists, including me, had been calling for a way to solve cross-border conflicts. AsiaN was founded against this backdrop.

“AsiaN is seeking to establish Asia’s cultural homogeneity, making efforts to improve multicultural relations among Asian countries.”

Lee had been a reporter for a major local newspaper in Korea, Hankyoreh, for more than a decade before he became publisher and CEO of AsiaN and Magazine N. He also founded the Asia Journalist Association (AJA) in 2004. Before founding the AJA, Lee was president of the Journalists Association of Korea for consecutive terms from 2002-2005.

“I founded the AJA in 2004, and had been making efforts for peace in Asia,” Lee said. “But I thought it was not enough just to form the association, and decided to publish AsiaN in 2012.”

All 150 veteran journalists writing for AsiaN are AJA members.

AsiaN’s N refers to Next, News and Network, according to Lee.

“Next stands for our goal to write an in-depth article for Asia’s next generation,” he said. “And we provide a diverse range of news in Asia to solve racial and religious conflicts. Lastly, we put an emphasis on our human network. When I founded the AJA in 2004, journalists from only 15 countries joined it. But it has expanded to 50 countries this year.”

AsiaN has also tried to protect reporters from possible threats.

“Some Asian countries are still suppressing freedom of speech,” Lee said. “Whenever reporters’ lives are endangered, AsiaN always issues a protest statement and tries to let the world know about it.”

Speaking about the company’s motto, he emphasized the importance of journalists revealing the truth.

“A Russian proverb says, ‘One line of truth through sweat and blood.’ This is what we are actually seeking,” he said. “We make all-out efforts to find out the truth.”

AsiaN is published in four languages ― Korean, English, Chinese and Arabic ― to help Asian reporters and readers better understand cross-border issues.

Lee said AsiaN’s future was looking very rosy, and he expects more media to follow in its footsteps.

“Reporting in various languages, such as Chinese or Arabic, serves as a window through which the country’s culture is reflected,” he said. “More and more websites will be created in the near future, providing multi-language services.”

On its third anniversary, AsiaN will host a dinner party with some AJA journalists, lawmakers and other young people.

“Later this month, we will hold a business forum with a Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) chief and some government officials to discuss the outlook for Korea’s economy and economic policies for next year,” Lee said.

AsiaN also plans to run a special article about how each country’s press is operated, including its history and/or characteristics of its journalists. The article will be published early next year.