The Chosun Ilbo remains the largest newspaper in Korea with a print circulation of 1.84 million. The Korean Audit Bureau of Circulation on Monday released figures for the certified circulations of 116 newspaper companies nationwide.

The Chosun Ilbo was the distant leader with a circulation of 1,844,783, followed by the Joongang Ilbo and Donga Ilbo with 1,309,568 and 1,289,973.

The Maeil Business Newspaper and the Korea Economic Daily followed with 877,752 and 513,129. The Sports Chosun came in sixth with 341,367, followed by the Kookmin Ilbo with 295,512, the Nongmin Shinmun with 293,271, the Kyunghyang Shinmun with 292,721 and the Hankyoreh Shinmun with 281,814.

The bureau officially recognized the figures based on the number of printed papers during the six months in the second half of last year, which was followed by a verification process. Additional certification will take place in mid-December for some 20 other newspapers including the Hankook Ilbo.

The print circulation is correlated with the paid circulation and used as an important index to measure how influential the publisher is.