Posts tagged KCNA
What’s wrong with these pictures?
Jan 8th
North Korea’s state news agency published a couple of images on January 4th that appear to show Pyongyang factory workers checking or testing laptop computers. But a closer look reveals something odd about the pictures.
The images were published with a brief caption that claimed: “Employees of the Electronics Corporation under the Ministry of Electronics Industry work hard to develop new varieties of products in response to the call of the joint New Year editorial.”
The New Year Editorial, a staple of North Korea and annual indicator of the state’s priorities in the coming year, called this year for the country to More >
KCNA again caught altering photo
Dec 30th
The official Korea Central News Agency apparently altered at least one of the photos it sent from funeral procession of Kim Jong Il this week. The New York Times’ Lens Blog reported on the image, which was redistributed by several western photo agencies and then killed due to questions over its authenticity.
The photo was taken from the south east side of Kim Il Sung Square, perhaps the cabinet secretariat building or the observation deck on the eastern side of the square, and shows the procession of Kim Jong Il’s coffin through the city.
The alteration involves removing a group of people More >
State websites raise name of Kim Jong Un
Dec 25th
North Korea’s state-run websites began on Saturday printing Kim Jong Un’s name in a style previously reserved for Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il.
The Korea Central News Agency, Voice of Korea and Rodong Sinmun started using a heavier or larger font when spelling out his name.
Here’s how it looked on the KCNA website on Saturday. If you look closely you’ll see Kim Jong Un’s name appears slightly larger.
Not only had KCNA started using the additional coding, it had gone back through its database of stories and adjusted each instance of Kim Jong Un’s name.
And here are the Voice of More >
Kim Jong Il’s death – How DPRK websites broke the news
Dec 19th
A familiar newscaster dressed in black appears on screen and makes a tearful announcement: Kim Jong Il is dead. When North Korean state TV and radio broke the news at noon on Monday they had already given advance notice that a major announcement was coming. Its delivery was an attempt to set a national mood of mourning.
On the Internet things were a bit different with the news being carried as if it was any other story.
North Korea’s state media ventured online last year when a new Internet connection was brought to Pyongyang. The state-run news agency, the major national daily More >
KCNA to launch Chinese news service
Nov 30th
North Korea’s official news agency and chief propaganda outlet, Korea Central News Agency, will start a Chinese news service this week.
The launch of the service on December 1 comes less than a year after KCNA began distributing news in Japanese and makes 2011 a year of major expansion for KCNA.
KCNA’s output of flattering articles on North Korea’s leadership, political system and progress had been available for years in an, English and Spanish via a website in Tokyo. The Japanese site was run by a group affiliated with the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chosen Soren).
Things started to change in late 2010 More >
Pyongyang is not happy about foreign radio broadcasts
Oct 6th
North Korea’s state-run news agency has hit out against propaganda radio broadcasts targeted at the country.
(This post has been updated. See below)
In a commentary published on Wednesday, the Korean Central News Agency criticized the broadcasts for using “the same frequency band as used by the TV broadcasting in the DPRK and conducting its anti-DPRK radio propaganda with the same radio frequency band as used in the DPRK.”
North Korea is targeted by a handful of overseas radio stations that largely transmit on shortwave frequencies to reach listeners in the country. Some of the stations, including South Korea’s KBS and Seoul-based Open Radio for North Korea, More >
Coding the Kims
Jul 20th
If you’ve spent time browsing some of North Korea’s official websites and looked closely enough, you might have spotted a slight change in the typeface every time Kim Jong Il or Kim Il Sung is mentioned.
Your eyes are not deceiving you. Official North Korean websites contain a custom style rule written into the page that is used when either of the Kims is mentioned.
Here’s are some examples. First, from the website of KCNA. Kim Jong Il is mentioned twice and both times his name is slightly bigger than the rest of the text.
At Voice of Korea it’s the same. The 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 >
