This study deals with censorship of the Korean language press in Japan by the American occupation after World War II. It focuses on the social roles of mass media in a minority community when there were harsh media controls such as discriminatory printing paper allocation as well as censorship. It finds that, in spite of the government control, the press continued to play social roles such as community integration, identity formation, and agenda setting.

The dissertation represents the first scholarly examination of 19 Korean newspapers, including one for women, and 14 magazines published by Koreans in Japan during the occupation. It is based on previously unavailable material recently opened to researchers as part of the Gordon W. Prange Collection at the University of Maryland. Therefore, the entire dissertation is the only study to date of Korean publications in Japan during the occupation.

This study reveals the contents of articles scheduled to appear in Korean publications that were suppressed by censors. Through this study, the voices of suppressed Korean speakers have been revived and can, for the first time, be heard in on an open forum. Even though the voices represent quite different ideological factions, those of the leftwing, rightwing, and mid-road, the study concludes that Korean publications in Japan, reflecting the yearnings of Koreans in Japan, zeroed in on a consensus: Korea is one; therefore, the homeland should overcome the division over North and South and develop a unified nation.

This study shows how a marginalized ethnic minority group, the Koreans in Japan under the Japanese government and American occupation authorities, recognized themselves as members of the same community belonging to one homeland in spite of their geographical distance from it. It demonstrates the fact that journalism under conditions of harsh control may negotiate with the authorities, or attempt to circumvent control. The study also brings out the fact that, from a freedom of the press view, controlling the physical media of communication [printing paper] may be more damaging than control of the contents of communication [censorship].