The New York Times , vice versa because some detail information can carry some
perspective about the issue that is discussed. This matter also can show what points that each newspaper wants to highlight. The Korea Herald elaborates the context of
the resignation of South Korea‟s Prime Minister into 7 subtopics. The subtopics and its elaboration are in the following points.
i. The offer of Prime Minister’s resignation
This subtopic is in the beginning part of the news article which describes the offer of the resignation of the Prime Minister. So, according to its placement in the
text, the offer of the resignation of the Prime Minister is the most prominent information that the readers should catch at their first sight of reading. The
prominence of this topic also reflected on the headline, “Prime Minister Quits over
Ferry Disaster”. The headline of the article does not mention “South-Korea” which is different from The New York Times because this article is an article which is
published inside South Korea, so the people who read this article already share the same background knowledge about which Prime Minister that resigns.
ii. The Prime Minister’s statements on his resignation.
In this subtopic, this text elaborates about some statements of the Prime Minister in the moment of his resignation. In his resignation, the Prime Minister
stated his apology to the people. He apologized for a series of problem that the government did due to the disaster of the ferry sinking. What he apologized for
includes the preventive steps, the initial response, and the follow-up measures. Besides stating the apology to the people, the Prime Minister also stated his offer to
resign. He stated that his decision to resign was the right thing to do for he had witnessed the sorrows, sadness, and anger of the people which were caused by his
bad handling at the disaster.
iii. The governmental issue related to the resignation.
After elaborating the statements of the Prime Minister in his moment of resignation, the text continues to elaborate about the governmental issue related to the
resignation. The resignation of the Prime Minister causes some changes in the government. The Pr
ime Minister‟s resignation caused a cabinet reshuffle but it seemed that the cabinet reshuffle would be delayed because the offer of the
resignation would be accepted by the President after the accident was resolved.
iv. The Prime Minister’s comment on the issue of some irregularities related to
the ferry disaster.
This subtopic only appears on The Korea Herald. The Korea Herald includes this subtopic in the news article while The New York Times only mentions about the
irregularities without adding the comment of the Prime Minister on it. In this subtopic, The Korea Herald shows the response of the Prime Minister about the
irregularities in the disaster not just merely describes the irregularities that contributed to the disaster like in The New York Times
v. The opinion about the resignation of the Prime Minister.
Af ter elaborating about the Prime Minister‟s comment on the issue of some
irregularities related to the ferry disaster, The Korea Herald continues to elaborate the opinions about the resignation of the Prime Minister. The opinions do not come only
from the public but also from the main opposition of the government. Mostly, the opinions about the resignation of the Prime Minister are negative. The main
opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy blasted the Prime Minister‟s offer to resign as utterly irresponsible and cowardly while the public called it as abrupt.
vi. The description about the sinking of the ferry.
In this subtopic, The Korea Herald gives the details about the sinking of the ferry including the weight of the ferry, the route of the ferry, the total numbers of the
passenger and the numbers of the passenger which were sunk.
vii. The critics toward the government about their bad response to the ferry
sinking.
The Korea Herald elaborates the critics toward the government about their
bad response to the ferry sinking as terrible. The bad response of the government toward the ferry sinking can be seen from what they had done. The government
mistook the situation by giving false report which claimed all passengers had been safely rescued. The government also failed to act promptly or put enough efforts into
search and rescue operation especially when the pan-government headed by the Prime Minister was formed more than a day after the accident. Another bad response from
the government can be seen on their inconsistent report about the official numbers on passengers, survivors and the dead.
