The Gyeongnam Ilbo (Korean: 경남일보) is a daily Korean-language regional newspaper published in Sangpyeong-dong [ko], Jinju, South Korea.

It claims to be the successor to the first regional Korean-language newspaper, which was founded on October 15, 1909, although it closed in January 1915.

[1] It was rare at the time, as it was the first newspaper to be founded in a regional Korean city that was not Japanese.

[3][2] Its first publication was praised by newspapers like The Korea Daily News and even by several in China and Japan.

[1][4] The Gyeongnam Ilbo published the poem, resulting in its publication being suspended for ten days.

[1][2][4] Thereafter, because of Japanese censorship, it avoided discussing politics and mostly focused on social issues and educating the Korean people.

It initially published every day (implied by the term "Ilbo", meaning "daily"), but it struggled to do so.

[1][4] The only other daily Korean-language newspaper in Korea around this time was the Maeil Sinbo, which was de facto operated by the colonial government.

[1] As a result, on July 26, 1952, armed assailants raided one of their offices and destroyed their equipment and materials.

[4] In 1961, after Park Chung Hee seized power in the May 16 coup, the military government demanded that Seol Chang-su (설창수), the president of the newspaper since 1952, resign.

[4][1] In 2003, a copy of the first-ever issue of the paper [ko] was found in an old house in Sugok-myeon, and was designated South Gyeongsang Province Tangible Cultural Heritage No.