Media
AP hopes to open Pyongyang bureau in early 2012
Aug 25th
The Associated Press expects to finalize plans this week to open a news bureau in Pyongyang.
A team from the U.S.-based news organization is currently in the North Korean capital negotiating the details of the bureau, which AP President Tom Curley said he hopes will be open in early 2012.
Curley told South Korea’s Yonhap News that AP expects it will have “a text correspondent and a photographer, and we expect to have others as well” stationed at the bureau.
An opening in 2012 would allow the news organization to cover the April 2012 anniversary of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Kim More >
AP kills KCNA photo, says it was altered
Jul 18th
Hot on the heels of agreements between Korean Central News Agency and both The Associated Press and Reuters to more widely distribute KCNA video, The AP has withdrawn a KCNA photo saying it’s not what it appears to be.
The photo, below, was distributed to AP members and customers on July 16 and purports to show floods that hit Pyongyang a day earlier.
The original caption said: “In this photo taken Friday, July 15, 2011 and released Saturday July 16, 2011 by Korean Central News Agency via Korea News Service, residents wade through a flooded street in Pyongyang, North Korea. North Korea More >
KCNA video in demand by foreign agencies
Jul 15th
Two recent deals with western news agencies stand to put Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) video in front of millions of viewers.
The deals, with The Associated Press and Reuters, give each agency the ability to redistribute KCNA footage to TV stations around the world as part of their video news service. Such deals are common and both AP Television News and Reuters have many to supplement their own footage and get quick access to breaking news.
The difficulties of getting into Pyongyang to shoot any video, let alone breaking news, present unique problems for all journalists.
AP announced its deal on June More >
AP, Reuters battle for Pyongyang bragging rights
Jul 12th
Pyongyang is suddenly the hottest place to have a newsroom.
In the space of two weeks, both The Associated Press and Reuters have announced plans to source more content from inside the country.
The AP has signed a memorandum of understanding (which typically precedes an official deal) on the establishment of a text and photo bureau in Pyongyang, while Reuters says it has an agreement to feed video from Pyongyang for distribution to its TV clients worldwide.
(Pictured right: Kim Pyong Ho, president of Korean Central News Agency, right, exchanges an agreement during an official signing with AP President and CEO Tom Curley More >
North last, South falling in press freedom
May 5th
North Korea remains the country with the least press freedom in the world, according to the 2011 Press Freedom index from Washington, D.C., based Freedom House. The news isn’t a surprise to anyone that follows North Korea closely. There is a complete lack of independent media, official media is highly censored, and the government actively blocks foreign media from penetrating the country.
What’s perhaps more interesting is a drop in the rank of neighboring South Korea.
The survey ranks countries on 23 questions, assigning scores that are combined to provide a total. The total runs from 0 (best) to 100 (worst) and countries More >
Kujang shortwave transmitter site
Apr 29th
If you’ve ever listened to The Voice of Korea on shortwave, you’ve probably heard broadcasts from this transmitter site. Kujang is one of the largest transmitter locations in the DPRK with, according to official records, 5 shortwave transmitters each capable of delivering a 200kW signal. That’s powerful enough to reach most corners of the world, given a clear frequency and good conditions.
North Korea doesn’t publish detailed locations of its transmitter sites, but a bit of digging around on Google Earth and cross-referencing with Curtis Melvin’s North Korea Uncovered Google Earth file and the World Radio TV Handbook led me to this More >
Voice of Korea website due Friday
Apr 14th
North Korea’s international broadcasting service, The Voice of Korea, will launch a website on Friday, according to a domestic radio report transcribed by BBC Monitoring. (The site has launched a day early. See below for update.)
The site is due to open on Friday, which is Kim Il Sung’s birthday, and will be available at http://www.vok.rep.kp .
The report didn’t detail what the website would carry, but judging from comments and emails I receive concerning the frequency schedule, daily recordings of the station’s programming would be appreciated by its listeners. The shortwave signal is sometimes difficult to hear.
Voice of Korea broadcasts in Arabic, More >
Voice of Korea English A11 schedule
Apr 10th
Voice of Korea, the DPRK’s international shortwave broadcasting service, is on the air everyday in several languages. The English language broadcasts appear to be refreshed during the day (local time) with each programming cycle beginning with the evening broadcast and then getting repeated overnight.
The news output is similar to the English-language stories from KCNA, but there is minor editing. It’s generally a day behind the news being put out on the domestic service in Korean.
Each program is about 55 minutes long.
The English-language broadcast schedule for summer 2011 (period A11) effective March 27 to October 30 is:
0100 GMT (10am local) to More >
KCNA significantly increasing output
Mar 4th
The Korean Central News Agency has significantly increased its online output in the last few months as it continues to expand its new website.
The website, available at kcna.kp (except in South Korea where it’s blocked), first appeared in October 2010 and is KCNA’s first official home on the web. KCNA news was previously available via Korea News Service in Tokyo, but the new site appears to be run directly from Pyongyang.
When it launched, it carried KCNA’s English and Spanish language output and some photos. A refresh of the site in December added Korean, but this simply brought it level with the More >
Rodong Sinmun launches website
Feb 17th
Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Worker’s Party of Korea and one of the most important propaganda tools of the DPRK government, has launched a website.
The site was first reported on Thursday although appears to have been officially launched a day earlier on Feb. 16, which was Kim Jong Il’s 69th birthday. DNS (domain name system) records for the site, at www.rodong.rep.kp, which are required for public access to the server, first appeared on Feb. 16.
The website appears to contain the full text of each day’s newspaper and stories back to Jan. 1, 2011. Each More >
