Perceptions of the EU: Focusing on Sentiment and Semantic Networks of Korean YouTube Videos

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Research on South Korean Perceptions of the EU has been conducted over the last two decades. The empirical studies have been devoted to exploring traditional Korean news media coverage of the EU. Due to the increased significance of digital media, social media has become one of the influential perception shapers for the South Korean public. To address this change, this paper aims to probe EU perceptions on internet/social media (YouTube). Also, this paper employed automated discourse analyses (Sentiment Analysis and Semantic Network Analysis) to add methodological novelty. Korean YouTube videos on EU, which were created from January to June 2020, are the research medium. Subsequently, this study will help explore the blueprint of EU images on South Korean internet/social media. The results created by sentiment analysis show that the EU was predominantly described with a neutral sentiment. However, comparing between negative and positive sentiments, the selected videos are more likely to contain negative sentiment. From the semantic network analysis, the main themes of the selected videos were the EU’s measures against COVID-19 crisis, Brexit and EU-Korea virtual summit. The results show that the Union’s crises are the main motivation for the creators of Korean YouTube videos on the EU. Automated discourse analysis would not be able to offer more in-depth qualitative interpretations, but, at least, it will be a useful tool to offer a timely discussion on South Korean perceptions of the EU.

참고문헌 (Reference)

1 YTN, "[Subtitle News] 148 dead by COVID-19 in Italy…a sudden increase in confirmed cases of Europe ‘emergency’ (in Korean), YouTube Video, 1:51"

2 EU Gateway, "[EU sponsored] EU Gateway 2020 Contemporary European Design Exhibition Begins!! 7/21-7/22 Seoul Shilla Hotel Dynasty Ballroom (in Korean). YouTube Video, 0:20"

3 Purple Korea, "Why the UK, a nation of gentleman, could overcome this upcoming (COVID-19) crisis thanks to Korea (in Korean). YouTube video, 6:18"

4 Gibson, Rachel, "Web Content Analysis"

5 SBSCNBC, "US-EU intensive increase…Entering into COVID-19 Pandemic (in Korean). YouTube video, 2:08"

6 KBS, "UK, the House of Commons passed Brexit Bill…Brexit is going to happen at the end of this month (January) (in Korean). YouTube Video, 2:05"

7 SBSCNBC, "UK leaves the EU…EU member states finally confirmed Brexit bill (in Korean). YouTube video, 1:46"

8 VOA News Korea, "UK completes Brexit…a rocky road ahead. (in Korean). YouTube Video, 2:03"

9 Travel Tube, "The reason why Europe called Korea as a superpower. “Did Europe have a mental breakdown?” calling Korea urgently (in Korean). YouTube video, 10:46"

10 Boulos, Maged, "The emerging Web 2.0 social software:an enabling suite of sociable technologies in health and health care education" 24 (24): 2-23, 2007

11 Yonhapnews, "The UK finally left the EU…Difficulty in Negotiation Expected. (In Korean), YouTube Video, 2:27"

12 Maeil Kyungje TV, "The UK finally leaces the European Union on the January 31 (in Korean), YouTube video, 11:24"

13 Kunal, Sourav, "Textual dissection of live twitter reviews using naive bayes" 132 : 307-313, 2018

14 van Atteveldt, Wouter, "Semantic Network Analysis: Techniques for Extracting, Representing and Querying Media Content" BookSurge 2008

15 Yonhapnews, "President Moon, Korea-EU virtual summit on June 30, 2020(in Korean), YouTube Video, 0:29"

16 Yonhapnews TV, "Now Europe faces the problem…exceeding more than 10,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19. Europe closed its borders (in Korean), YouTube Video, 2:01"

17 YTN, "North Korean Foreign Ministry expressed regret “EU is presumptuous”…Kim Jongun’s private plane was detected (in Korean), YouTube Video, 2:47"

18 MBC, "News desk, European Nations’ backlash on sudden border closure (in Korean), YouTube video, 2:09"

19 MBC, "News Today, Korea-EU Virtual Summit… Discussing on COVID-19Contingency Plans (in Korean), YouTube video, 0:34"

20 KNU, "Kunsan National University, Korean Sentiment Dictionary"

21 KISDI, "Korea Media Panel Research Results, KISDI STAT Report 20-01"

22 Barnett, George, "Intercultural Communication" De Gruyter Mouton 103-, 2017

23 정세원, "Information Diffusion in YouTube Video Networks: The Case of Koreans' EU Perceptions" 한국EU학회 24 (24): 25-47, 2019

24 Naeil Shinmun, "German, Europe’s pride, sent an SOS message to Korea. [Germany] “wants to learn from Korea by sending a large mission.”However, Korea politely refused and held a video conference (in Korean), YouTube video, 9:22"

25 Grant-Hayford, Naakow, "Galtung and Ruge—News Values: an Update by Prof. Galtung (2014). Galtung-Institut (30 April 2015)"

26 KBS, "Finally Brexit…What are the new FTA tasks for Korea? (in Korean). YouTube Video, 5:08"

27 MBC Radio, "Finally Brexit begins, what will its economic impact on the EU and South Korea? (in Korean), 26:55"

28 Chung, Sae Won, "External Images of the EU: Comparative Analysis of EU Representations in Three Major South Korean Newspapers and Their Internet Editions" University of Canterbury 2013

29 SBS News, "Europe was open…COVID-19 from Italy faces spread ‘emergency’(video onsite) (in Korean). YouTube video, 1:24"

30 EU Gateway, "EU-sponsored 2020 Green Energy Technology Exhibition begins/ 4-5 February COEX Inter-continental Hotel Harmony Ballroom (in Korean)"

31 VOA News Korea, "EU will continue its critical intervention (in Korean), YouTube Video, 2:15"

32 Yonhapnews, "EU included 22 countries including North Korea in its revised list of money-laundering states” and (In Korean), YouTube Video, 0:43"

33 National Centre for Research on Europe, "EU Global Perceptions"

34 Kim, Leo, "Connecting opinion, belief and value:semantic network analysis of a UK public survey on embryonic stem cell research" 14 (14): 1-23, 2015

35 정세원, "Changing Perceptions of the EU at Times of Brexit: Global Perspectives" Routledge 247-264, 2020

36 YTN, "COVID-19 in Italy is getting serious…people say ‘it was similar from the situation in the World War II’ (In Korean), YouTube Video, 1:42"

37 Yonhapnews, "British House of Commons passed Brexit Bill…The UK is about to leave the EU at the end of this month (January 2020) (in Korean), YouTube Video, 0:38"

38 Yonhapnews, "British House of Commons passed Brexit Bill…The UK is about to leave the EU at the end of this month (January 2020) (in Korean), YouTube Video, 0:38"

39 Hosch, William, "Britannica: Web 2.0, Internet"

40 JTBC, "Brexit passed over the threshold of British House of Commons…EU Brexit Bill is finally passed (in Korean). YouTube Video, 2:09"

41 SBSCNBC, "Brexit D-Day…What will be the effects on Korean industry (in Korean). YouTube video, 1:40"

42 KBS, "After effect of Italy…Corona Spreads in Europe (in Korean), YouTube Video, 1:52"

43 KBS, "67,000 cases were confirmed in Europe…Germany closed its border (in Korean). YouTube Video, 2:07"

44 National Information Society Agency, "2019 Survey on the Internet Use"