A critical discourse analysis of the news on north korean missile launches part 5

A critical discourse analysis of the news on north korean missile launches

Chapter 3

DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

As we have mentioned, the research is carried out in two stages: the analysis of headlinesand the analysis of full-text news reports In the first stage, we will make a detaileddescription of the representation of the US- Japan coalition and North Korea in theheadlines from VOA and Nhan Dan The second stage of analysis will examine anddiscuss the use of the most prominent discursive strategies practiced by the two sources ofnews in representing the two groups of actors in order to provide supports for what isfound in the first stage.

3.1 Analysis of Headlines

This part aims at answering the following questions:

i What are the most prominent processes attributed to the US- Japan coalition and NorthKorea by VOA and Nhan Dan?

ii What are the most prominent roles assigned to these groups of actors by VOA andNhan Dan?

iii Why are the US- Japan coalition and North Korea involved in such processes and rolesin VOA and Nhan Dan?

The news under analysis was reported in the period of time after North Korea missile teston July 5th 2006 It should be noted here that there have been six-party nuclear talks whichaim to find a peaceful resolution to the security concerns as a result of the North Koreannuclear weapons program There has been a series of meetings with six participating states:the People's Republic of China; the Republic of Korea (South Korea); the DemocraticPeople's Republic of Korea (North Korea); the United States of America; the RussianFederation; and Japan These talks were a result of North Korea withdrawing from theNuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 2003 Five rounds of talks from 2003 to 2006produced little net progress because of the different goals and interests of the six nations.After the missile test on July 5, the US and Japan strongly criticized North Korea and tried

to persuade the United Nations to give sanctions against North Korea Meanwhile, Russiaand China - two veto-wielding Council members - opposed strong punitive actions againstNorth Korea and they expressed concerns that punitive measures would inflame tensions inthe region.

3.1.1 Voice Of America

Having a quick look at the headlines from VOA (Appendix 1), we can see that most of thearticles (88.9%) were released before July 15- the day when the UN made its resolution inresponse to the missile test This well served the US and Japan’s intention of puttingpressure on the Security Council to produce a resolution imposing sanctions on NorthKorea Another thing is that the articles which directly represent the viewpoint of Russiaand China are very few (23.1%) compared to those of the US and Japan (76.9%), whichpartly proves VOA’s priority to the latter.

The transitivity analysis of headlines shows that VOA positively represents the US andJapan We can see that a majority of processes are attributed to the US and Japan (76.9%)and all these processes are either verbal (60%) or material (40%) The US and Japan playthe role of actor and sayer in all the processes In material processes, they play the role ofactor with verbs denoting positive actions, or showing their power and domination, as in:VOA3 US, Asian n eighbors w eigh r esponses to N Korea m issile l aunch

VOA12 Bush seeks unified stance on North Korea

VOA14 US Intelligence Chief vows to protect American civil liberties

The material process ‘protect’ may bare a presupposition that the US is in danger of being

attacked and the implicature here would be that North Korea should be punished and theUS should launch pre-emptive strike to protect itself This creates on the readers’ mind apositive impression of the US’ intention

In all verbal processes, the US and Japan are assigned the sayer role, which shows theirpower and their active position:

VOA1 White House c onfirms North Korea l aunches f ive m issiles, o ne l ong- r ange

VOA9 Japan u rges UN s anctions a gainst North Korea

VOA18 Japan, China, South Korea, ASEAN u rge North Korea to t alk

The verbal process ‘urge’ strongly indicates that the US and Japan are putting pressure on

the UN as well as on North Korea and that a resolution should be made immediately Inthis way, VOA produces and reproduces the US and Japan’s domination over North Koreain the power relation between them The domination is reinforced in the verbal process : VOA14 US Intelligence Chief vows to protect American civil liberties

The process implies the US’ millitary strength and suggests that they are ready for millitaryactions Moreover, by putting other nations in the same subjects as in ‘US, Asianneighbors’ (VOA3) or ‘Japan, China, South Korea, ASEAN’ (VOA18) , the US and Japanhave indirectly drawn other nations to their side in order to achieve their purpose ofisolating North Korea In short, the types of processes associated with the US and Japan,the nature of their involvement and the roles they play in those processes reveal a positiverepresentation of this coalition by VOA.

On the other hand, the transitivity analysis of the headlines well proves that VOA hasgenerated a negative image of North Korea on the readers’ mind Like the US and Japan,North Korea is also engaged mainly in material and verbal processes: material 40%, verbal46.7% and relational 13.3% North Korea occupies the role of actor in many materialprocesses (83.3%); however, the nature of the processes shows an opposite image via verbsdenoting negative meanings :

VOA4 North Korea t ests s eventh m issile d espite i nternational c ondemnation

VOA6 N Korean m issile l aunches p rovoke i nternational c riticism

VOA16 North Korea i gnores South Korean c riticism

The verb ‘provoke’ strongly indicates that North Korea has intentionally made not only the

US but the whole world angry and opposed to its action, which well supports the US’

purpose of isolating North Korea The verb ‘ignore’ means that North Korea pays no

attention to South Korea’s opinion Using this word, VOA has widened the gap in thevulnerable relationship between North and South Korea These processes drive the readersto think that North Korea is not cooperative in healing the relationship and keeping peacealthough this may not be the fact.

The negative impression on North Korea is reinforced in verbal processes, in which it isassigned both the role of sayer (57.1%) and target (42.9%) What is particularly crucialhere is the nature of North Korea’s involvement in these verbal processes :

VOA2 North Korea d efends m issile t ests as 'Sovereign Right'

VOA10 North Korea v ows m ore m issile l aunches

VOA13 N Korea s ays Japanese s anctions w ill b ring ' d isastrous' r esponse

VOA18 Japan, China, South Korea, ASEAN u rge North Korea to t alk

The verbal process ‘defend’ bares a presupposition that North Korea has done somethingwrong and has to protect itself from criticism The word ‘vow’ potrays North Korea as an

agressive and hostile nation which is threatening the world with its missiles The process

‘say’ seems normal but what North Korea says is not normal at all, it sounds like a

declaration of war: ‘Japanese sanctions will bring 'disastrous' response’ VOA has movedthe readers to perceive that North Korea is agressive and its action is blameable andunacceptable, thus it deserves condemnation and strong punitive measures from the UnitedNations Even the relational process creates a negative impact on North Korea:

VOA11 Pyongyang r emains d efiant a fter m issile l aunches

The word ‘defiant’ which means showing open refusal to obey something suggests the

uncooperative attitude of North Korea To sum up, it is transparent through the transitivityanalysis of the selected headlines that VOA represents North Korea negatively NorthKorea is assigned the role of both actor and sayer but it performs negative doings andsayings From VOA’s viewpoint, North Korea is an agressive and hostile nation whichpossesses missiles- weapon of mass destruction, thus posing big threat to world peace Ittherefore deserves punitive measures, even millitary actions.

3.1.2 Nhan Dan

Unlike VOA, Nhan Dan seems to have a neutral stance on this issue, thus the headlinesfrom Nhan Dan sound more objective Instead of mainly representing the US and Japan, italso raises the voice from all the countries involved with a relatively balanced proportion:

47.4% of the processes are attributed to other countries including Russia and Chinacompared to 52.6% to the US and Japan.

The transitivity analysis of the headlines from Nhan Dan shows that, like in VOA, all theprocesses attributed to the US and Japan are either verbal (60%) or material processes(40%) Similar to VOA, the US and Japan play the role of sayer or actor in all of theseprocesses What is different is the nature of the processes :

ND1 Triều Tiên thử tên lửa, Mỹ và Nhật Bản đe dọa trừng phạtND3 Mỹ đề nghị đàm phán về việc Triều Tiên thử tên lửa

ND6 Mỹ đề nghị Trung Quốc thuyết phục Triều Tiên trở lại bàn đàm phánND8 Mỹ tỏ thất vọng đối với phản ứng của Triều Tiên

The verbal process ‘đe dọa’ may also suggest the US- Japan coalition’s power However, it

leaves on the readers a negative impact of this coalition The process potentially leads thereaders to a perception that this coalition may abuse their power to press such a smallcountry as North Korea to do what they want In other verbal processes, unlike VOAwhich uses words denoting strong opposition, Nhan Dan employs words that can lighten

the reactions: instead of ‘urge’ it uses ‘đề nghị’ which means ‘to suggest’, instead ofexpressing ‘condemnation’ or ‘criticism’ it uses ‘tỏ thất vọng’ which means ‘to showdisappointment’, and the word ‘đàm phán’ is repeated many times

ND2 Trung Quốc quan tâm, Nhật Bản tiếp tục đàm phán về vấn đề tên lửa của Triều

ND13 Nhật Bản xem xét trừng phạt kinh tế đối với Triều Tiên

Using the material processes ‘tiếp tục đàm phán’ and ‘xem xét trừng phạt’, Nhan Dan has

described Japan as willing to talk and negotiate while in VOA Japan is urging for punitivesanctions against North Korea With these verbal and material processes, unlike in VOA,Nhan Dan has portrayed the US and Japan as more likely to have negotiation than to takepunitive measures, and so it has driven the readers to think of peaceful solutions to thesituation.

In Nhan Dan, like in VOA, North Korea is involved mainly in verbal (58.3%) and materialprocesses (41.7%) Apart from this similarity, there are differences between the twosources of news concerning the representation of North Korea Instead of the image of a

hostile and agressive North Korea in VOA, Nhan Dan seems to have a more objective viewof this country:

ND1 Triều Tiên thử tên lửa , Mỹ và Nhật Bản đe dọa trừng phạt

ND4 Triều Tiên tuyên bố sẽ tiếp tục thử tên lửa

ND6 Mỹ đề nghị Trung Quốc thuyết phục Triều Tiên trở lại bàn đàm phánND12 Triều Tiên bác bỏ nghị quyết HĐBA Liên hợp quốc

We can see that Nhan Dan simply reports what happened without adding any spice to thesituation as ‘despite international condemnation’ or ‘provoke international criticism’ in

VOA The verbal processes ‘tuyên bố’ and ‘bác bỏ’ shows that North Korea is given the

chance to raise its voice in a very firm manner expressing its confidence, rights and power.

The process ‘thuyết phục’ also suggest North Korea’s rights to do what they want In other

words, the processes attributed to North Korea in the selected headlines may imply thenewspaper’s respect for North Korea’s independence and sovereignty

What is more, North Korea is given the oppotunity to be supported by other nations asRussia, China and even South Korea, this is particularly important because North Korea isnever given such a chance in VOA :

ND7 Trung Quốc phản đối hành động cứng rắn đối với Triều Tiên

ND14 Hàn Quốc phản đối các biện pháp trừng phạt thêm của Mỹ đối với Triều Tiên

The verbal process ‘phản đối’ (object) strongly indicates that North Korea has also gained

support from members of the six-party talks, which is contrary to VOA where North Koreais isolated and seen as opposed to the international community In short, the transitivityanalysis of the headlines in Nhan Dan suggests an objective representation of North Koreain contrast to its negative image in VOA Nhan Dan has portrayed North Korea as a statewhich has its own independence and sovereignty and which has bravely raised its strongvoice to protect itself.

3.2 Analysis of Full-text News Reports

As we have analyzed, the representations of the US- Japan coalition and North Korea inVOA and Nhan Dan’s headlines are different and the differences are reinforced in the full-

text news reports In this part, we will investigate the following discourse features andstrategies: naming referents, lexicalization, over-lexicalization, and quotation patterns.

3.2.1 Naming referents3.2.1.1 VOA

The analysis of naming referents in VOA reveals that naming referents for the US- Japancoalition are all formal and neutral, which shows VOA’s respectfulness toward the US-Japan coalition while North Korea has some names carrying negative values showingdisrespectfulness This is shown in the table below :

Table 1 Names for US-Japan coalition and North Korea in VOA

the United States (x28)Japan (x30)

Washington (x12)Tokyo (x5)Pentagon (x3)

the Defense Department (x2)the Bush Administration

North Korea (x106)Pyongyang (x43)the North (x11)

the impoverished communist statethe impoverished Stalinist nationthe impoverished North

the isolated communist nationNorth Korea's foreign ministry(x3)

Pyongyang's Foreign Ministryits (North Korea’s) regime

the regime that's in power inPyongyang

Japanese Chief Cabinet SecretaryShinzo Abe

Abe (x2)

Alexander Vershbow, the U.S.ambassador to South Korea (x2)Vershbow (x2)

Japanese Prime Minister JunichiroKoizumi (x2)

Mr Koizumi

Spokesman Bryan WhitmanWhitman (x3)

the Pentagon spokesman (x2)

Japan's U.N Ambassador KenzoOshima

Washington's U.N Ambassador JohnBolton

We can see VOA’s negative attitude towards North Korea in such names as: ‘theimpoverished communist state’, ‘the impoverished Stalinist nation’, ‘the impoverishedNorth’, and ‘the isolated communist nation’ In their eyes, North Korea is a poor and small

country, thus having no power in the international community Not only that, itscommunist government has isolated itself from the whole world with its policies and nocountry would help or support it Another salient naming referent used for North Korea’s

government in VOA is ‘regime’ as in: ‘its regime’ or ‘the regime that's in power inPyongyang’ When a government is called a regime, it usually means that the government

is not elected in a fair way With this negative word, North Korea is portrayed as an enemynot only of the US but also of the fair and democratic world Using such naming referents,VOA has evoked disrespectfulness and hatred for the North Korean government amongreaders.

3.2.1.2 Nhan Dan

Different from VOA, Nhan Dan’s naming referents reveal the newspaper’s respect andequal treatment toward both the US- Japan coalition and North Korea:

Table 2 Names for US-Japan coalition and North Korea in Nhan Dan

Mỹ (x42)Nhật Bản (x21)Mỹ và Nhật Bản (x2)Chính phủ Nhật Bản (x3)Bộ Ngoại giao MỹBộ Ngoại giao Nhật BảnBộ quốc phòng Nhật BảnNhà Trắng

Triều Tiên (x88)Bình Nhưỡng (x11)

Bộ Ngoại giao Triều Tiên(x4)

ông Shinzo Abeông Abe

Ngoại trưởng RiceNgoại trưởng

Bộ trưởng Ngoại giao Mỹ C Rice

Bộ trưởng Ngoại giao Mỹ CondoleezzaRice

Bà Rice

Bộ trưởng Quốc phòng Donald RumsfeldTrợ lý Ngoại trưởng Mỹ Christopher HillTrợ lý Bộ trưởng Ngoại giao Mỹ

ông Han Song Ryol, PhóTrưởng đoàn đàm phán củaTriều Tiên tại LHQ

một quan chức Bộ Ngoại giaoTriều Tiên

một quan chức thuộc Bộngoại giao Triều Tiên tại BìnhNhưỡng

ông Ri

Các nhà ngoại giao Triều TiênPhó Chủ tịch Ủy ban Thườngvụ Hội nghị nhân dân tối caoTriều Tiên Yang Hyong Sopông Yang

Christopher Hillông Christopher Hill

đặc phái viên Mỹ về vấn đề Triều TiênChristopher Hill

trưởng đoàn đàm phán hạt nhân của MỹChristopher Hill

Ông Hill (x2)

cố vấn an ninh quốc gia Mỹ HadleyCố vấn an ninh quốc gia Mỹ StephenHadley

Đại sứ Mỹ tại LHQ John Bolton (x2)John Bolton, đại sứ Mỹ tại Liên hợp quốcĐại sứ Mỹ John Bolton

Hai quan chức Bộ Ngoại giao Mỹ, yêucầu được giấu tên

Giới chức ngoại giao Mỹ

Thủ tướng Nhật Junichiro Koizumiông Koizumi

Bộ trưởng Ngoại giao Nhật Bản Aso TaroBộ trưởng Ngoại giao Nhật Bản Taro AsoNgoại trưởng Nhật Taro Aso

Đại sứ Nhật Bản, Kenzo Oshima (x2)Thứ trưởng Ngoại giao Mỹ NicholasBurns

Ông Burns

The table shows that names for the US- Japan coalition and North Korea are both neutraland formal The governments are referred to formally and the officials are also calledformally by title plus their full names of last names No names carrying negativeideological connotations are counted It could be suggested by the analysis of namingreferents that Nhan Dan represents the US- Japan coalition and North Korea in a similarmanner which shows respect and equal treatment toward them both.

3.2.2 Lexicalization

Lexicalization is the strategy to do with lexical choices Examining choices of wordingswill contribute to making explicit ideological differences embedded in the new stories Inthis section, we will choose to focus on two most prominent phenomena: the wording forNorth Korea’s activities and the wording for the US- Japan coalition’s activities.

3.2.2.1 VOA

There is a great deal of evidence which proves that VOA’s lexicalization works towardportraying North Korea as posing a threat to the world security by producing and testing itsmissiles and defying international criticism

Table 3 Negativization of North Korea’s activities in VOA

Source Negative words describing North Korea’s activitiesVOA2 has defended his country's right to launch missiles

increase North Korea's isolation

sparking condemnation from several countries

worsen North Korea's isolation and hurt its relationship with Seoulthreatens Japan's air and maritime traffic

developing nuclear weapons

isolate itself from the international community

VOA3 has also refused to end its nuclear weapons program

the North intended to intimidate the United States and its allies in Asia, but theplan may have backfired

“it could not threaten the United States directly… But it has been so

provocative, it has been so inattentive to international concerns”provoke China's historic enemy, Japan

VOA6 Defying weeks of international warnings

refusing to return to six-nation talks on implementing a pledge it made to stopdeveloping nuclear weapons

VOA7 North Korea's development, deployment and proliferation of missiles and

missile-related materials, equipment and technology pose a threat to the region

and to the world

VOA9 staged a series of provocative missile tests

developing missiles or weapons of mass destruction

VOA10 issued defiant words in response to broad international criticism of its missile

will conduct more missile tests, as a means of enhancing what Pyongyang calls

its "self-defensive deterrent"

warns that North Korea will take unspecified "stronger physical actions" againstany country that dares to pressure it over the launches

defied multiple warnings and expressions of concern from friends and foes

pressuring Washington into one-on-one talks with Pyongyang

VOA16 brushed off the criticism, and instead renewed requests for massive transfers of

unconditional food aid for the North's shattered economydid not respond to Seoul's criticism about the missiles

repeated a request for South Korea to provide 500,000 tons of rice to the

impoverished North

defended its "Songun," or "Army First" policy, under which military

expenditures take up the overwhelming share of North Korea's tiny national

boycotted a continuation of those talks in protest of financial sanctions imposed

by Washington

money laundering and counterfeiting

the North Korean response had been "discouraging"VOA17 “disappearing from the face of the earth”

“they see themselves as a little country surrounded by giants So they are wary

and suspicious”

“express a fair amount of hostility, even contempt for the Chinese”

“look for opportunities, in some sense, to put their thumb in the Chinese eye”

“there was a message to be sent to China and to South Korea and to Japan aboutNorth Korea and what it could do to the regional players”

“increase a number of complexities in the region that make China

negative words may create disrespectfulness and hatred for North Korea among thereaders Not only that, VOA has worsened the relationship between North Korea andChina who has been considered North Korea's staunchest ally with these negative words as

suspicious, hostility, contempt or the intention to put their thumb in the Chinese eye It is

transparent that these lexical choices diminish the good relationship between the twocountries and contribute to isolate North Korea These words demonstrate VOA’s negativejudgment of North Korea’s activities

On the contrary, the US- Japan coalition is portrayed as performing positive activities andhaving great power in the world:

Table 4 Positivization of the US- Japan coalition’s activities in VOA

Source Positive words describing the US- Japan coalition’s activitiesVOA2 Japan barred from its ports a North Korean ferry

ready to provide financial and diplomatic benefits to the North if it ends its

nuclear programs

VOA3 have been very vocal for weeks in urging North Korea not to carry out the

missile tests

have indicated they will likely pursue U.N sanctions

VOA4 condemning the launches as a provocation

Tokyo on Wednesday imposed new sanctions on Pyongyang, including barring

a North Korean ferry from going to Japan

have condemned the launches and warned they could deepen North Korea's

VOA6 expressed alarm about the latest launch

have condemned the launches as provocations

quickly responded by barring a North Korean ferry from its ports

indicated more punitive action may be on the way

ready to provide financial and diplomatic benefits to the North if it ends its

nuclear programs

VOA7 detected all seven North Korean missile launches and determined quickly that

they were not a threat to the United States or its territories

was fully aware of the North Korean launches, and was able to assess their

significance almost immediately

the Defense Department was prepared to respond to the North Korean launches

if that had been necessary

VOA9 Japan is urging the U.N Security Council to impose sanctions on North Korea

for its barrage of missile launches

Japan introduced a strongly-worded draft Security Council resolution

calls for sanctions to prevent Pyongyang from receiving funds, material or

technology that could be used in developing missiles or weapons of massdestruction

Tokyo has already imposed its own penalties in response to the North Korean

VOA10 cooperate on diplomatic steps to address the issuethe Bush Administration has ruled out bilateral talks

The US- Japan coalition is described to be ready to provide financial and diplomatic

benefits to North Korea, which is supposed to be a very positive and generous action they

can do to the poor country They also express their power in the international community

by warning and condemning North Korea’s tests Without the UN resolution, Japan hasalready imposed its own penalties on North Korea, barring from its ports a North Koreanferry that carries cash, food and gifts VOA also indicates the US’s military strength withwords reporting that the US detected all seven North Korean missile launches anddetermined quickly that they were not a threat to the United States or its territories and the

Defense Department is ready for action in response to North Korea’s tests Through thepositive lexicalization, VOA explicitly associates the US and Japan with positive valuesand goals.