OhmyNewsOhmyNews, the phenomenally popular Korean citizen journalism website, has launched a Japanese sister edition.

OhmyNews has established a newsroom in Tokyo using roughly £3 million of a near £6 million investment it received last year from Japanese telecoms and Internet firm Softbank.

Over the last month 1,000 Japanese citizen reporters have been recruited to supply stories alongside the sites 10 staff reporters.

Currently, OhmyNews has about 40,000 citizen reporters in Korea. OhmyNews Japan plans to recruit 5,000 citizen reporters by the end of this year and aims to have 40,000 within two years.

Initially, the service will be published in Japanese only - although it is believed that some content may be translated for use on the South Korean site.

Yesterday's official launch proved so popular that is caused the site to crash for a short time - according to Reuters.

Launched in 2000, the South Korean service has generated great public interest owing to its reports on everyday topics submitted by non-professionals.

Its progressive editorial stance has led some observers speculate that it played a significant role in Roh Moo Hyun being elected South Korean president in 2002.

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