This study is aimed at helping Korean learners in understanding Korean symbol and then Korean culture more deeply, by examining the cultural meaning of the headlines and how symbols are being used in contemporary culture of Korea, focused on expressions of the headlines. As symbols imply cultural heritage that underlies Korean thought and emotion, we can understand the identity of Korea and Koreans through symbols. Such symbols may be efficiently utilized in intercultural communication, because it is possible to communicate thoughtfully only when properly understanding symbols of other’s culture. Symbols are expressed by metaphor in contemporary culture in many cases. In addition, as headlines implicitly present the contents of the entire article by means of omission and metaphor, we might misunderstand the whole contents of an article if we don’t properly understand symbols used for the headline. Accordingly, it is very important for Korean learners to grasp what meaning the symbols have in Korean culture, which are mainly used for the headlines, for the purpose of understanding contemporary culture of Korea. Therefore, this study examined advanced researches to divide symbols in four categories such as ‘animal, color, number, and plant’, and reviewed how each symbol is presented in specific headlines on portal sites. It is expected, through this, to provide significant education regarding symbols, that help Korean learners in understanding contemporary culture of Korea through the newspaper articles. Furthermore, it may contribute to expansion of Korean teachers’ background knowledge about the Korean culture. (Kyung Hee University)