Boston Korean Community Gets New Newspaper

March 18, 2005 – Boston’s Korean community now has a new local newspaper, thanks to Myong Chang, age 37, who on March 10 published the first issue of The Boston Korean.

The 20-page, 3,000-circulation weekly paper, which is printed in Korean, covers news of the local Korean community as well as some sports and entertainment news.

Chang, who came to the U.S. from Korea seven years ago, said he hopes to eventually make The Boston Korean a bilingual publication so that English-only residents can also read it.

But right now he is focused on just putting out the paper, which he now runs entirely by himself.

“The first thing I need to do is gain credibility with the community,” he said.

His name is not unknown, however. Chang was editor of theNew England Korean News, a publication of the Korean Society of New England, for six years prior to starting his own publication. He said he wanted to start a newspaper that was not affiliated with another organization.

Chang hopes his publication will help the area’s Korean population, which in 2000 reached 17,369, nearly a 50% increase since 1990.

So far, ads only cover the printing costs of The Boston Korean, and to supplement his journalist’s paycheck, Chang, who is married with children, also sells an Internet phone service.

But he says the effort is worth it.

“I worked until 6 a.m. the day of production [for the first issue],” said Chang, “and I was smiling the whole time.”

To learn more about The Boston Korean, e-mail bostonkorean@hotmail.com.