ABSTRACT
South Korean public relations scholars, with help from American colleagues, are in the process of describing public relations in South Korea using various theoretical constructs. By all accounts, it is evident that public relations in South Korea is still early in its development and continues to be under the strong influence of the publicity-ridden hongbo. The term hong-bo, often used in South Korea as a substitute for the term public relations, can be described as disseminating information in a wide coverage using mass media or to make organizations or persons known to the public broadly (J.Park, 2001). Hong-bo often refers to publicity activities aimed at evading negative media coverage of organizations. Further, hong-bo is deeply rooted in the collaboration between the authoritarian government and the powerful chaebol system during the 1970s. Y.Park and M.Kim (1997) defined chaebol as “a business group consisting of many companies that are owned and managed by family members in diversified business areas” (p. 97).
