The Hankyoreh (Korean: 한겨레; lit. The Korean Nation; One Nation) is a centre-left liberal daily newspaper in South Korea. It was established in 1988 after widespread purges forced out dissident journalists, and was envisioned as an alternative to existing newspapers, which were regarded as unduly influenced by the authoritarian government at the time. When it launched, it claimed to be "the first newspaper in the world truly independent of political power and large capital." As of 2016, it has been voted as the most trusted news organization by Korean journalists for nine consecutive years but is also the least influential news outlet by the survey. It has online editions in English, Chinese, and Japanese.

The newspaper was originally established as Hankyoreh Shinmun (한겨레신문) on 15 May 1988 by ex-journalists from The Dong-A Ilbo and The Chosun Ilbo. At the time, government censors were in every newsroom, newspaper content was virtually dictated by the Ministry of Culture and Information, and newspapers had nearly the same articles on every page. The Hankyoreh was intended to provide an independent, left-leaning and liberal-nationalist alternative to mainstream newspapers regarded as blindly pro-business and opposed to national reunification. To underscore its patriotism and its break with tradition, The Hankyoreh became the first daily to completely reject the use of Hanja and use only Hangul; it continues to make only limited use of the Latin alphabet and limits the use of loanwords. It was also the first newspaper in Korea to be printed horizontally instead of vertically.

The Hankyoreh is the most critical of Japan among major South Korean media outlets. On October 7, 2016, it published article arguing that South Korea's anti-Japanese and Japan's anti-Korean sentiments were completely different, and that it was wrong to conflate the two. In particular, the newspaper argues that Korea's anti-Japan sentiment does not lead to hate crimes against the Japanese, and is a legitimate emotion of the country. However, the newspaper has criticized xenophobia against the Japanese living in Korea. The Hankyoreh is known as the most pro-European media in South Korea. When Britain decided on Brexit, The Hankyoreh criticized Britain's move.

On the conflictual nature of the territorial sovereignty of the Liancourt Rocks (Dokdo in Korean, Takeshima in Japanese), although exceeded by The Chosun Ilbo in its coverage, The Hankyoreh's coverage has been described in "A Comparative Analysis of News Coverage of Dokdo Island" by Yoon Youngchul and E. Gwangho as reflecting the foreign policy interest of South Korea versus Japan.

In line with the newspaper's nationalism and aspirations for reunification, its reporting of inter-Korean and East Asian affairs is based on its editorial policy seeking reconciliation, stability and peaceful co-prosperity through dialogue rather than pressure on the government of North Korea. In terms of national affairs, studies on the editorial policies of South Korean newspapers by Cheongwadae, the Office of the President, have found that The Hankyoreh, which published its first issue early in the Roh Tae-woo administration, has shown little fluctuation from administration to administration. The Hankyoreh also runs a "Hankyoreh Foundation for Reunification and Culture" as a forum for advocacy of peace and reunification on the Korean peninsula. Notwithstanding the newspaper's support for democracy, human rights, and free speech in South Korea, in June 2009, The Hankyoreh described the arrest and imprisonment of two US journalists in North Korea, condemned by Reporters Without Borders, as a sham trial, as a "not entirely negative signal" of North Korea's openness to communicate.

Other legacies of its early dissident history include a strong emphasis on human rights in South Korea, a position it continues to hold today, together with several international organizations that have criticized South Korea for its retreat from democracy, human rights and press freedom. The Hankyoreh's advocacy of human rights also extends to North Koreans and tends to support normalization of relations with the U.S. It has been critical of approaches towards improving the situation by encouraging system collapse through absorption by South Korea or by encouraging defections.

The Hankyoreh opposes censorship and wiretapping and encourages active debate on news that is circulated, and like many newspapers in South Korea, is opposed to circulation of graphic news content and took a strong stance in the instance of the video footage of Kim Sun-il's death in Iraq. It strongly endorsed the 2008 "mad cow protests" as a victory for "substantive democracy" over merely "procedural democracy." It strongly encouraged coverage of the 2008 demonstrations and a greater understanding of "candlelight spirit" that academics are referring to as an emergence of a new social movement and form of democracy in South Korea that protests policy development on trade, liberalization of public education, the privatization of health, and the environmental consequences of a cross-country canal project without substantial public opinion gathering.

The Hankyoreh has campaigned for higher standards of ethics in journalism since its founding and had initiated a campaign against journalists' taking bribes, which had been customary in the industry in South Korea until the late 1990s.