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 headlines and the analysis of full-text news reports. In the first stage, we will make a detailed description of the representation of the US- Japan coalition and North Korea in the headlines from VOA and Nhan Dan. The second stage of analysis will examine and discuss the use of the most prominent discursive strategies practiced by the two sources of news in representing the two groups of actors in order to provide supports for what is found in the first stage. 3.1. Analysis of Headlines This part aims at answering the following questions: What are the most prominent processes attributed to the US- Japan coalition and North Korea by VOA and Nhan Dan? What are the most prominent roles assigned to these groups of actors by VOA and Nhan Dan? iii. Why are the US- Japan coalition and North Korea involved in such processes and roles in VOA and Nhan Dan? The news under analysis was reported in the period of time after North Korea missile test on July 5th 2006. It should be noted here that there have been six-party nuclear talks which aim to find a peaceful resolution to the security concerns as a result of the North Korean nuclear 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 Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea); the United States of America; the Russian Federation; and Japan. These talks were a result of North Korea withdrawing from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 2003. Five rounds of talks from 2003 to 2006 produced 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, Russia and China - two veto-wielding Council members - opposed strong punitive actions against North Korea and they expressed concerns that punitive measures would inflame tensions in the region. 3.1.1. Voice Of America Having a quick look at the headlines from VOA (Appendix 1), we can see that most of the articles (88.9%) were released before July 15- the day when the UN made its resolution in response to the missile test. This well served the US and Japan’s intention of putting pressure on the Security Council to produce a resolution imposing sanctions on North Korea. Another thing is that the articles which directly represent the viewpoint of Russia and China are very few (23.1%) compared to those of the US and Japan (76.9%), which partly proves VOA’s priority to the latter. The transitivity analysis of headlines shows that VOA positively represents the US and Japan. 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 play the role of actor and sayer in all the processes. In material processes, they play the role of actor with verbs denoting positive actions, or showing their power and domination, as in: VOA3 US, Asian neighbors weigh responses to N. Korea missile launch 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 the US should launch pre-emptive strike to protect itself. This creates on the readers’ mind a positive impression of the US’ intention. In all verbal processes, the US and Japan are assigned the sayer role, which shows their power and their active position: VOA1 White House confirms North Korea launches five missiles, one long-range VOA9 Japan urges UN sanctions against North Korea VOA18 Japan, China, South Korea, ASEAN urge North Korea to talk 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. In this way, VOA produces and reproduces the US and Japan’s domination over North Korea in 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 millitary actions. Moreover, by putting other nations in the same subjects as in ‘US, Asian neighbors’ (VOA3) or ‘Japan, China, South Korea, ASEAN’ (VOA18) , the US and Japan have indirectly drawn other nations to their side in order to achieve their purpose of isolating 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 positive representation of this coalition by VOA. On the other hand, the transitivity analysis of the headlines well proves that VOA has generated 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%, verbal 46.7% and relational 13.3%. North Korea occupies the role of actor in many material processes (83.3%); however, the nature of the processes shows an opposite image via verbs denoting negative meanings : VOA4 North Korea tests seventh missile despite international condemnation VOA6 N. Korean missile launches provoke international criticism VOA16 North Korea ignores South Korean criticism 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 the vulnerable relationship between North and South Korea. These processes drive the readers to think that North Korea is not cooperative in healing the relationship and keeping peace although this may not be the fact. The negative impression on North Korea is reinforced in verbal processes, in which it is assigned both the role of sayer (57.1%) and target (42.9%). What is particularly crucial here is the nature of North Korea’s involvement in these verbal processes : VOA2 North Korea defends missile tests as 'Sovereign Right' VOA10 North Korea vows more missile launches VOA13 N. Korea says Japanese sanctions will bring 'disastrous' response VOA18 Japan, China, South Korea, ASEAN urge North Korea to talk The verbal process ‘defend’ bares a presupposition that North Korea has done something wrong 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 moved the readers to perceive that North Korea is agressive and its action is blameable and unacceptable, thus it deserves condemnation and strong punitive measures from the United Nations. Even the relational process creates a negative impact on North Korea: VOA11 Pyongyang remains defiant after missile launches 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 transitivity analysis of the selected headlines that VOA represents North Korea negatively. North Korea is assigned the role of both actor and sayer but it performs negative doings and sayings. From VOA’s viewpoint, North Korea is an agressive and hostile nation which possesses missiles- weapon of mass destruction, thus posing big threat to world peace. It therefore 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 headlines from Nhan Dan sound more objective. Instead of mainly representing the US and Japan, it also 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 China compared to 52.6% to the US and Japan. The transitivity analysis of the headlines from Nhan Dan shows that, like in VOA, all the processes 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 these processes. What is different is the nature of the processes : ND1 Triều Tiên thử tên lửa, Mỹ và Nhật Bản đe dọa trừng phạt ND3 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 phán ND8 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 the readers to a perception that this coalition may abuse their power to press such a small country as North Korea to do what they want. In other verbal processes, unlike VOA which 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 of expressing ‘condemnation’ or ‘criticism’ it uses ‘tỏ thất vọng’ which means ‘to show disappointment’, 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 Tiên 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 punitive sanctions 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 take punitive measures, and so it has driven the readers to think of peaceful solutions to the situation. In Nhan Dan, like in VOA, North Korea is involved mainly in verbal (58.3%) and material processes (41.7%). Apart from this similarity, there are differences between the two sources 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 view of 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 phán ND12 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 the situation 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 the newspaper’s respect for North Korea’s independence and sovereignty. What is more, North Korea is given the oppotunity to be supported by other nations as Russia, China and even South Korea, this is particularly important because North Korea is never 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 Korea is isolated and seen as opposed to the international community. In short, the transitivity analysis of the headlines in Nhan Dan suggests an objective representation of North Korea in contrast to its negative image in VOA. Nhan Dan has portrayed North Korea as a state which has its own independence and sovereignty and which has bravely raised its strong voice 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 in VOA 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 and strategies: naming referents, lexicalization, over-lexicalization, and quotation patterns. 3.2.1. Naming referents 3.2.1.1. VOA The analysis of naming referents in VOA reveals that naming referents for the US- Japan coalition are all formal and neutral, which shows VOA’s respectfulness toward the US- Japan coalition while North Korea has some names carrying negative values showing disrespectfulness. This is shown in the table below : Table 1. Names for US-Japan coalition and North Korea in VOA The US- Japan coalition North Korea Governments 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 state the impoverished Stalinist nation the impoverished North the isolated communist nation North Korea's foreign ministry (x3) Pyongyang's Foreign Ministry its (North Korea’s) regime the regime that's in power in Pyongyang Officials President Bush (x2) U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (x2) Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill (x2) Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe Abe (x2) Alexander Vershbow, the U.S. ambassador to South Korea (x2) Vershbow (x2) Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi (x2) Mr. Koizumi Spokesman Bryan Whitman Whitman (x3) the Pentagon spokesman (x2) Japan's U.N. Ambassador Kenzo Oshima Washington's U.N. Ambassador John Bolton Ri Pyung Dok, a policy researcher at North Korea's Foreign Ministry in Pyongyang (x2) Ri Pyongyang's U.N. envoy Pak Gil Yon A North Korean announcer We can see VOA’s negative attitude towards North Korea in such names as: ‘the impoverished communist state’, ‘the impoverished Stalinist nation’, ‘the impoverished North’, 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, its communist government has isolated itself from the whole world with its policies and no country 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 in Pyongyang’. 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 enemy not 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 among readers. 3.2.1.2. Nhan Dan Different from VOA, Nhan Dan’s naming referents reveal the newspaper’s respect and equal treatment toward both the US- Japan coalition and North Korea: Table 2. Names for US-Japan coalition and North Korea in Nhan Dan The US- Japan coalition North Korea Governments Mỹ (x42) Nhật Bản (x21) Mỹ và Nhật Bản (x2) Chính phủ Nhật Bản (x3) Bộ Ngoại giao Mỹ Bộ Ngoại giao Nhật Bản Bộ quốc phòng Nhật Bản Nhà Trắng Triều Tiên (x88) Bình Nhưỡng (x11) Bộ Ngoại giao Triều Tiên (x4) Officials Tổng thống Bush Tổng thống Mỹ George W Bush Shinzo Abe, chánh văn phòng nội các Nhật Bản trưởng phát ngôn viên chính phủ Nhật Shinzo Abe Chánh văn phòng nội các kiêm trưởng phát ngôn viên chính phủ Nhật Bản Shinzo Abe ông Shinzo Abe ông Abe Ngoại trưởng Rice Ngoại trưởng Bộ trưởng Ngoại giao Mỹ C. Rice Bộ trưởng Ngoại giao Mỹ Condoleezza Rice Bà Rice Bộ trưởng Quốc phòng Donald Rumsfeld Trợ lý Ngoại trưởng Mỹ Christopher Hill Trợ lý Bộ trưởng Ngoại giao Mỹ Christopher Hill ông Christopher Hill đặc phái viên Mỹ về vấn đề Triều Tiên Christopher Hill trưởng đoàn đàm phán hạt nhân của Mỹ Christopher Hill Ông Hill (x2) cố vấn an ninh quốc gia Mỹ Hadley Cố vấn an ninh quốc gia Mỹ Stephen Hadley Đại sứ Mỹ tại LHQ John Bolton (x2) John Bolton, đại sứ Mỹ tại Liên hợp quốc Đại sứ Mỹ John Bolton Hai quan chức Bộ Ngoại giao Mỹ, yêu cầu được giấu tên Giới chức ngoại giao Mỹ Thủ tướng Nhật Junichiro Koizumi ông Koizumi Bộ trưởng Ngoại giao Nhật Bản Aso Taro Bộ trưởng Ngoại giao Nhật Bản Taro Aso Ngoại trưởng Nhật Taro Aso Đại sứ Nhật Bản, Kenzo Oshima (x2) Thứ trưởng Ngoại giao Mỹ Nicholas Burns Ông Burns ông Han Song Ryol, Phó Trưởng đoàn đàm phán của Triều Tiên tại LHQ một quan chức Bộ Ngoại giao Triều Tiên một quan chức thuộc Bộ ngoại giao Triều Tiên tại Bình Nhưỡng ông Ri Các nhà ngoại giao Triều Tiên Phó Chủ tịch Ủy ban Thường vụ Hội nghị nhân dân tối cao Triều Tiên Yang Hyong Sop ông Yang The table shows that names for the US- Japan coalition and North Korea are both neutral and formal. The governments are referred to formally and the officials are also called formally by title plus their full names of last names. No names carrying negative ideological connotations are counted. It could be suggested by the analysis of naming referents that Nhan Dan represents the US- Japan coalition and North Korea in a similar manner 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 wordings will contribute to making explicit ideological differences embedded in the new stories. In this section, we will choose to focus on two most prominent phenomena: the wording for North 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 toward portraying North Korea as posing a threat to the world security by producing and testing its missiles and defying international criticism. Table 3. Negativization of North Korea’s activities in VOA Source Negative words describing North Korea’s activities VOA2 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 Seoul threatens 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 the plan 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 stop developing 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 launches 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" a