[DigitalToday reporter Hyunwoo Choo] On the night martial law was declared on Dec. 3, military media stopped functioning. A former deputy editor of Kookbang Ilbo who witnessed the moment has published a book.

Gi Kuk-gan (기국간), a professor at Sungkyunkwan University's Advanced Defense Research Institute, published a new book titled "Kookbang Ilbo Paradox - The Night of Martial Law, Notes from a Pen in Uniform" on April 10. The author, who worked in civilian media including Channel A's strategy office and later served as deputy editor at Kookbang Ilbo under the Defense Ministry's Defense Public Relations Institute, distilled 1,100 days of newsroom experience into an on-the-ground report.

The book diagnoses structural contradictions in the military's official newspaper through three paradoxes. Through the paradoxes of hierarchy, distortion and communication, it examines how bureaucratic norms clash with a reporter's instinct to pursue the truth. It also presents alternatives such as adopting red-team journalism and overhauling military media governance.

The book is both a tribute to the sweat of uniformed reporters who struggle within an outdated system and an innovation proposal aimed at overcoming a communication crisis facing the broader national public service.

Kookbang Ilbo Paradox/By Gi Kuk-gan/348 pages/Book Funding/19,800 won