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AP/KCNA photo exhibit opens in New York
A joint photo exhibition being staged by The Associated Press and the Korean Central News Agency opened at New York’s The 8th Floor gallery this week. The exhibition is one by-product of the AP’s opening of a news bureau in Pyongyang earlier this year and features 79 photographs, including shots from AP photographers, KCNA staffers…
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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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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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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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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…
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Kim Jong Il’s death – How DPRK websites broke the news
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…
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KCNA to launch Chinese news service
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…
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Pyongyang is not happy about foreign radio broadcasts
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…
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Coding the Kims
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…
