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AP opens Pyongyang bureau
The Associated Press has opened a news bureau in Pyongyang making it the first western news agency to have a reporter and photographer based in the North Korean capital. The bureau represents a coup for the AP over the competition, but its close cooperation with the state-run Korean Central News Agency, necessitated to realize the…
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Rodong Sinmun launches English site
Rodong Sinmun, the newspaper of the Workers’ Party of Korea and North Korea’s main national daily, has launched an English-language website. The page appears to have come online in the last few days but has a small archive of stories stretching back to December 1. It’s the first foreign language to be offered by the…
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KCNA website adds Kim Jong Un section
The sudden death of Kim Jong Il has North Korea’s propaganda machine scrambling to build stories about the life of Kim Jong Un. The stories are a staple of the North Korean media and occupied hours of broadcast time and columns of newsprint during the era of Kim Jong Il. Designed to build a personality…
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What’s wrong with these pictures?
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…
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South Korea’s National Security Law making headlines
South Korea’s attempts to keep North Korean material from the eyes and ears of its citizens is coming under the global media spotlight as the country launches a new sweep of domestic web sites and discussion forums. Led by U.S. National Public Radio, the country’s arrests of citizens for the seemingly benign posting of North…
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Voice of Korea on Kim’s funeral
From my own monitoring, here are a couple of reports from Voice of Korea, North Korea’s shortwave radio service, on the event surrounding the funeral of Kim Jong Il. December 29 broadcast (covering the events of the previous day) Voice of Korea reports on the funeral procession of Kim Jong Il. [audio:https://www.nktechlab.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/111229-vok-kim-funeral.mp3|titles=Voice of Korea, December 29,…
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KCNA again caught altering photo
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…
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Pyongyang mourning at Hana Electronics
Hana Electronics and the Hana Music Information Center, one of the last places reported to have been visited by Kim Jong Il before his death, was one of the locations used on Thursday to mourn his passing. State TV pictures showed a crowd that appeared to be at least in the thousands standing outside the building…
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What North Korea’s media is calling Kim Jong Un
The ascent of Kim Jong Un to the top spot in North Korea appeared on track Thursday as the country wrapped up two days of funeral events for Kim Jong Il. State media has bestowed an ever increasing number of titles on Kim since his father’s death was announced on December 19. It started the…
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State websites raise name of Kim Jong Un
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…
