This study indicates a stark contrast between the frames by TV news and that of the major newspapers in the coverage of the two candlelight demonstrations in 2002 and 2008 in South Korea. The contrast implies that the frames used by TV news and major newspapers were constructed by two different thematic frames that competed for dominance in public concern: national interest on the one hand, and national prestige and human interests on the other. The TV news framed stories on the 2002 Yangju county accident and the import of American beef in ways to trigger anti‐Americanism, which was contrasted with major newspapers' consistent emphasis on national interest. Difference in ownership, target audience and the degree of dependence on advertising sponsors offered plausible explanations for the difference in frames. In addition, the number of journalists going into politics also offered insights into why TV news and newspapers framed the 2002 Yangju county accident and the import of US beef in very unique ways, either by triggering anti‐demonstrations or by tranquilizing protests through emphasizing national interests. Overall, difference in frames between major TV news and major newspaper stories represents ideological difference in the public opinion over conservatives versus progressives.

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Do natural disasters affect presidential approval ratings? In this study, we argue that in South Korea this relationship is conditional on regional partisan cleavages. Since partisanship induces perceptual biases among distinct social groups, we expect that (1) the president’s co-partisans will not blame their president even if the government fails to prevent or mitigate damage from natural disasters, and (2) human and economic losses from disasters, or delivery of disaster relief aid, may boost approval ratings in partisan strongholds. We test these hypotheses using South Korea’s Park Geun-hye and Moon Jae-in administrations. The results of vector auto-regressions show that regional partisanship toward the incumbent significantly influences job approval ratings in the wake of natural disasters. While public opinion in metropolitan areas was not affected by disaster losses, both presidents’ approval rose after disasters—typhoons and windstorms, in particular—struck their strongholds in the southeastern part of the country.

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