“The pen is broken, but the truth does not stop.”

They say the longer the night, the closer the dawn.

However, the night we endured was far too long and deep.

In that darkness, the press held its breath,

and reporters grew accustomed to silence.

The mouths that delivered truth were closed,

and the pens that challenged power fell from hands.

Some gave up, some turned away,

some media outlets embraced the regime,

and others were embraced by capital.

At that time, we asked ourselves:

“Where is the media you believe in, now?”

We are reporters who have lived by the pen.

Our path has been to confront the world with truth alone,

and to pierce through power and absurdity with facts.

However, Skydaily, the last place we belonged,

abandoned the path of journalism when its representative changed.

Once a paper of integrity, it devolved into a propaganda organ for the Lee Jae-myung administration.

We did not stand idly by.

Reporters gathered.

From a corner of the meeting room, the corridor of the newsroom, beside the photocopier,

a resistance that began as whispers has now become a fervent cry.

“Is this journalism?”

But the walls of immense power and capital were high.

Pens that spoke the truth became targets,

and in the early summer of 2025, we were handed letters of resignation.

On that day,

some wept, and some held their heads high.

And we vowed:

“We will not crumble.

The pen that seeks truth can be raised again.”

And now,

to keep that promise,

we are launching ‘Hanmi Ilbo’.

We ask again:

What is the mission of journalism?

Is it to be the mouthpiece of power?

Is it to be mindful of advertisers’ intentions?

Or is it to be the eyes and ears of the public,

to uncover hidden truths,

to dismantle distorted narratives,

and to restore common sense that has collapsed?

Hanmi Ilbo chooses the latter.

We will not be beholden to any regime or capital.

And above all,

we will restore the unbalanced scale of the media.

The media in Korea is currently trapped in a left-leaning frame.

Criticism operates selectively,

and facts are distorted as tools for interpretation.

When the media follows ideology over truth,

democracy crumbles, and the public is alienated.

Britain’s ‘The Guardian’, while maintaining a progressive perspective,

never stops monitoring and criticizing power.

Even with a slant, it upholds the principle that journalism's core must be truth.

However, a significant portion of Korean media

defends power in the name of progress,

and evades criticism through silence.

We ask:

Is uncritical media progressive?

Are reports confined within frames journalism?

Hanmi Ilbo will restore balance to the media.

We will lend a microphone to hidden truths,

and re-erect the pen for silenced realities.

A fact-centered media, not one of left or right,

restoring that broken center

is our reason for founding.

We have picked up our pens again.

To revive the soul of a fallen media,

to reawaken the forgotten spirit of journalism,

and above all,

so that freedom, justice, and common sense in this land

can breathe again,

‘Hanmi Ilbo’ takes its first step today.

Now,

we ask your heart:

What kind of media do you want to believe in?

What kind of reporter do you want to remember?

We are reporters who have lived by the pen.

And today, we raise that pen again.

Stand on the side of truth.

Be a witness to history.

We will not stop.

July 16, 2025

On the occasion of the founding of Hanmi Ilbo

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