Although newspaper circulation in Korea has always been somewhat of a mystery, as only three paid papers and two free papers reported audited circulation in 2004, Korea's ABC has released 2006 free daily circulation, Newspaper Innovation reported today.

AM7 had a circulation of 402,000 in 2006, while Metro had a circulation of 497,000. The Daily Focus had the highest circulation of all audited free titles, with 529,000.

In 2004, AM7 saw circulation of 470,000, with 62 percent distributed in Seoul, while The Daily Focus had a circulation of more than 600,000 in 2004, according to Newspaper Innovation.

Free papers Sports Hankook and Daily Zoom were not audited, and recent additions to the market, The City and NoCutNews, were not around when the audit took place. The Joongbu newspaper circulated 12,000 free copies in and around Deajeon.