Posts tagged north korea

North Korea unveils statues of former leaders Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il on Friday. Pedro Ugarte, Agence France-Presse/Getty Images. Via the New York Times.

North Korea unveils statues of former leaders Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il on Friday. Pedro Ugarte, Agence France-Presse/Getty Images. Via the New York Times.

“The press bus took a wrong turn Thursday,” or, Western journalism’s first real look at North Korea’s capital While on a tour of Pyongyang, NK for the centennial of founder Kim Il Sun’s birth, AP journalists were given a rare opportunity to photograph something other than the elaborate, weird showcases they’re normally subjected to. The bus took a wrong turn and, for just a few minutes, took photojournalists somewhere new. from the AP report: A cloud of brown dust swirled down deeply potholed streets, past concrete apartment buildings crumbling at the edges. Old people trudged along the sidewalk, some with handmade backpacks crafted from canvas bags. Two men in wheelchairs waited at a bus stop. There were stores with no lights, and side roads so battered they were more dirt than pavement. But the biggest surprise was that it wasn’t that bad. It’s not clear why the regime hides places like the dusty, potholed neighborhood, which is just a mile or so from the center of town, across the trolley tracks and just off Tongil Street. It doesn’t look like a war zone, or even like a particularly rough New York City neighborhood. Many streets in New Delhi, the capital of one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, look far more battered and far poorer. FJP: What a sort of nice, unexpectedly humane look at the country. For more pictures, see this Atlantic Wire article.

“The press bus took a wrong turn Thursday,” or, Western journalism’s first real look at North Korea’s capital

While on a tour of Pyongyang, NK for the centennial of founder Kim Il Sun’s birth, AP journalists were given a rare opportunity to photograph something other than the elaborate, weird showcases they’re normally subjected to. The bus took a wrong turn and, for just a few minutes, took photojournalists somewhere new.

from the AP report:

A cloud of brown dust swirled down deeply potholed streets, past concrete apartment buildings crumbling at the edges. Old people trudged along the sidewalk, some with handmade backpacks crafted from canvas bags. Two men in wheelchairs waited at a bus stop. There were stores with no lights, and side roads so battered they were more dirt than pavement.

But the biggest surprise was that it wasn’t that bad.

It’s not clear why the regime hides places like the dusty, potholed neighborhood, which is just a mile or so from the center of town, across the trolley tracks and just off Tongil Street.

It doesn’t look like a war zone, or even like a particularly rough New York City neighborhood. Many streets in New Delhi, the capital of one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, look far more battered and far poorer.

FJP: What a sort of nice, unexpectedly humane look at the country.

For more pictures, see this Atlantic Wire article.

Foreign Journalists Photograph North Korea via The Atlantic: The government of North Korea recently invited dozens of foreign journalists into its secretive country to cover the 100th birthday celebration for founder Kim Il Sung on April 15. Among pageants and openings, the event drawing the most attention is the scheduled launch of a three-stage Unha-3 rocket carrying a weather satellite. The launch is already drawing criticism from Western governments: If successful, it could demonstrate North Korea’s capacity to produce an intercontinental missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead. Despite their official invitation, foreign photographers are still restricted — escorted wherever they go and unable to photograph more than they can see within selected facilities or from the windows of buses and trains.  Click-through to view the set. Photo Caption:  North Koreans commute to work in Pyongyang on April 8, 2012. North Korea is counting down to the 100th anniversary of its founder’s birth on April 15 with top-level meetings and a controversial rocket launch scheduled in coming days to bolster his grandson’s credentials. (Pedro Ugarte/AFP/Getty Images) FJP: The photos are fascinating, illuminating, and a bit haunting. 

Foreign Journalists Photograph North Korea

via The Atlantic:

The government of North Korea recently invited dozens of foreign journalists into its secretive country to cover the 100th birthday celebration for founder Kim Il Sung on April 15. Among pageants and openings, the event drawing the most attention is the scheduled launch of a three-stage Unha-3 rocket carrying a weather satellite. The launch is already drawing criticism from Western governments: If successful, it could demonstrate North Korea’s capacity to produce an intercontinental missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead. Despite their official invitation, foreign photographers are still restricted — escorted wherever they go and unable to photograph more than they can see within selected facilities or from the windows of buses and trains. 

Click-through to view the set.

Photo Caption: 

North Koreans commute to work in Pyongyang on April 8, 2012. North Korea is counting down to the 100th anniversary of its founder’s birth on April 15 with top-level meetings and a controversial rocket launch scheduled in coming days to bolster his grandson’s credentials. (Pedro Ugarte/AFP/Getty Images)

FJP: The photos are fascinating, illuminating, and a bit haunting. 

Central Pyongyang At Dusk The New York Times’ Lens blog profiles David Guttenfelder, an AP photographer who is the only Westerner able to shoot in North Korea on a regular basis. Guttenfelder’s work is a part of “Window on North Korea,” a photography exhibit taking place in New York City that places images by AP photographers next to those taken by Korea State Media (KCNA) photographers. Via the New York Times: [The show] has some of the best of the North Korea images by Mr. Guttenfelder and his A.P. colleagues. But the photos by the KCNA are most telling. They are highly idealized images: everyone is well fed, and smiling. The workers are heroic and the leaders have a heavenly glow.  There are no traces of the hunger, hardships and repression that exist in North Korea. They may be propaganda but they do provide insight into how the North Korean government officials want — and need — their people to see their country. A slideshow of images from the exhibit is available at the Lens blog. Image: Central Pyongyang At Dusk by David Guttenfelder, AP. Via the New York Times.

Central Pyongyang At Dusk

The New York Times’ Lens blog profiles David Guttenfelder, an AP photographer who is the only Westerner able to shoot in North Korea on a regular basis.

Guttenfelder’s work is a part of “Window on North Korea,” a photography exhibit taking place in New York City that places images by AP photographers next to those taken by Korea State Media (KCNA) photographers.

Via the New York Times:

[The show] has some of the best of the North Korea images by Mr. Guttenfelder and his A.P. colleagues.

But the photos by the KCNA are most telling. They are highly idealized images: everyone is well fed, and smiling. The workers are heroic and the leaders have a heavenly glow.  There are no traces of the hunger, hardships and repression that exist in North Korea. They may be propaganda but they do provide insight into how the North Korean government officials want — and need — their people to see their country.

A slideshow of images from the exhibit is available at the Lens blog.

Image: Central Pyongyang At Dusk by David Guttenfelder, AP. Via the New York Times.

Soldiers, Yelling About Things Pyongyang, North Korea — North Korean soldiers chant denunciations of South Korean President Lee Myung-bak as a morale-building exercise at a military base on their country’s southwest coast, opposite South Korea’s Baengnyeong Island. Via the LA Times Framework Blog. Bonus Points: The photo is by Kim Kwang Hyon of the Associated Press which now has the West’s first news bureau in North Korea.

Soldiers, Yelling About Things

Pyongyang, North Korea — North Korean soldiers chant denunciations of South Korean President Lee Myung-bak as a morale-building exercise at a military base on their country’s southwest coast, opposite South Korea’s Baengnyeong Island.

Via the LA Times Framework Blog.

Bonus Points: The photo is by Kim Kwang Hyon of the Associated Press which now has the West’s first news bureau in North Korea.

AP: Next Stop, North Korea The AP opens first Western news bureau in North Korea. Via the Associated Press: The Associated Press opened its newest bureau here Monday, becoming the first international news organization with a full-time presence to cover news from North Korea in words, pictures and video. In a ceremony that came less than a month after the death of longtime ruler Kim Jong Il and capped nearly a year of discussions, AP President and CEO Tom Curley and a delegation of top AP editors inaugurated the office, situated inside the headquarters of the state-run Korean Central News Agency in downtown Pyongyang… …The bureau puts AP in a position to document the people, places and politics of North Korea across all media platforms at a critical moment in its history, with Kim’s death and the ascension of his young son as the country’s new leader, Curley said in remarks prepared for the opening. “Beyond this door lies a path to vastly larger understanding and cultural enrichment for millions around the world,” Curley said. “Regardless of whether you were born in Pyongyang or Pennsylvania, you are aware of the bridge being created today.” Curley said the Pyongyang bureau will operate under the same standards and practices as AP bureaus worldwide. “Everyone at The Associated Press takes his or her responsibilities of a free and fair press with utmost seriousness,” he said. “We pledge to do our best to reflect accurately the people of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea as well as what they do and say.” Image: Associated Press President Tom Curley, left, and Korean Central News Agency President Kim Pyong Ho hang the Associated Press Pyongyang sign on the door to open a new AP bureau in Pyongyang, North Korea on Monday Jan. 16, 2012. Via the AP.

AP: Next Stop, North Korea

The AP opens first Western news bureau in North Korea.

Via the Associated Press:

The Associated Press opened its newest bureau here Monday, becoming the first international news organization with a full-time presence to cover news from North Korea in words, pictures and video.

In a ceremony that came less than a month after the death of longtime ruler Kim Jong Il and capped nearly a year of discussions, AP President and CEO Tom Curley and a delegation of top AP editors inaugurated the office, situated inside the headquarters of the state-run Korean Central News Agency in downtown Pyongyang…

…The bureau puts AP in a position to document the people, places and politics of North Korea across all media platforms at a critical moment in its history, with Kim’s death and the ascension of his young son as the country’s new leader, Curley said in remarks prepared for the opening.

“Beyond this door lies a path to vastly larger understanding and cultural enrichment for millions around the world,” Curley said. “Regardless of whether you were born in Pyongyang or Pennsylvania, you are aware of the bridge being created today.”

Curley said the Pyongyang bureau will operate under the same standards and practices as AP bureaus worldwide.

“Everyone at The Associated Press takes his or her responsibilities of a free and fair press with utmost seriousness,” he said. “We pledge to do our best to reflect accurately the people of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea as well as what they do and say.”

Image: Associated Press President Tom Curley, left, and Korean Central News Agency President Kim Pyong Ho hang the Associated Press Pyongyang sign on the door to open a new AP bureau in Pyongyang, North Korea on Monday Jan. 16, 2012. Via the AP.

The Sky is Crying Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of North Korea’s ruling party, has launched an English-language edition. Here’s a recent weather report: Mysterious snow fell at Mt. Paektu Secret Camp from 7 p.m. on Dec. 18 to 7 a.m. on 19. In general, snow falls from an overcast sky, but at Mt. Paektu Secret Camp snow fell from the starry sky all night. Local residents said Kim Jong Il was the heaven-born man and so the sky shed tears at the news of his demise… Even those who had been living there for a long time saw such a large scarlet glow for the first time. At the view of an unusual glow tinging the sky with deep and clear color, people said in excitement that even nature, unable to forget the heaven-born man, unfolded in the sky a red flag associated with the life of Kim Jong Il. Image: The Sky Is Crying by waitingforgoogle. H/T: Slate.

The Sky is Crying

Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of North Korea’s ruling party, has launched an English-language edition.

Here’s a recent weather report:

Mysterious snow fell at Mt. Paektu Secret Camp from 7 p.m. on Dec. 18 to 7 a.m. on 19. In general, snow falls from an overcast sky, but at Mt. Paektu Secret Camp snow fell from the starry sky all night. Local residents said Kim Jong Il was the heaven-born man and so the sky shed tears at the news of his demise… Even those who had been living there for a long time saw such a large scarlet glow for the first time. At the view of an unusual glow tinging the sky with deep and clear color, people said in excitement that even nature, unable to forget the heaven-born man, unfolded in the sky a red flag associated with the life of Kim Jong Il.

Image: The Sky Is Crying by waitingforgoogle.

H/T: Slate.

[R]ally, rally and rally behind great comrade Kim Jong Un and faithfully uphold his leadership.

An editorial in Rodong Sinmun, North Korea’s main newspaper, urges the country to rally around Kim Jong Un.

It also appears that Kim Jong Un will be known as “Outstanding Leader”. Not quite as epic as his grandfather’s “Great Leader,” or as cosy as his father’s “Dear Leader” but linguistically fabulous nonetheless.

If the moniker holds, it will update earlier ones such as “Brilliant Comrade” and “Great Successor” that were used before his father’s death.

Slate has a great explainer on the nicknames given to North Korea’s leaders. They originate — and perhaps this flows better in the Korean — in the Department of Propaganda and Agitation.

Kim Jong Il, 1941 - 2011 Via the Korean Central News Agency: Pyongyang, December 19 (KCNA) — Kim Jong Il, general secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea, chairman of the DPRK National Defence Commission and supreme commander of the Korean People’s Army, passed away from a great mental and physical strain at 08:30 December 17, 2011, on train during a field guidance tour.  Image: The Economist, June 2000.

Kim Jong Il, 1941 - 2011

Via the Korean Central News Agency:

Pyongyang, December 19 (KCNA) — Kim Jong Il, general secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea, chairman of the DPRK National Defence Commission and supreme commander of the Korean People’s Army, passed away from a great mental and physical strain at 08:30 December 17, 2011, on train during a field guidance tour. 

Image: The Economist, June 2000.

In June the Associated Press announced that it would open a news bureau in North Korea.  Earlier in the year, AP photographer David Guttenfelder and Seoul bureau chief Jean H. Lee were given “unprecedented access” to the country. Pictures from their trip are running at the Atlantic which notes: The pair made visits to familiar sites accompanied by government minders, and were also allowed to travel into the countryside accompanied by North Korean journalists instead of government officials. Though much of what the AP journalists saw was certainly orchestrated, their access was still remarkable. Image: Women perform a dance routine with badminton rackets at an event to mark the birthday of Kim Il Sung at a park in Pyongyang, North Korea, on April 15, 2011. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

In June the Associated Press announced that it would open a news bureau in North Korea. 

Earlier in the year, AP photographer David Guttenfelder and Seoul bureau chief Jean H. Lee were given “unprecedented access” to the country.

Pictures from their trip are running at the Atlantic which notes:

The pair made visits to familiar sites accompanied by government minders, and were also allowed to travel into the countryside accompanied by North Korean journalists instead of government officials. Though much of what the AP journalists saw was certainly orchestrated, their access was still remarkable.

Image: Women perform a dance routine with badminton rackets at an event to mark the birthday of Kim Il Sung at a park in Pyongyang, North Korea, on April 15, 2011. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

AP To Open North Korea News Bureau

Via the Associated Press:

The Associated Press today announced agreements with the Korea Central News Agency, including one to open an AP news bureau in Pyongyang.

Leaders of the two news organizations held discussions during a New York visit by KCNA executives and this week signed two memos of understanding and a contract.

“Leaders of the two news organizations”? 

Have they read North Korea’s news feed?

ap.org

What stories can satellite imagery tell us about North Korea’s labor camps?

A whole lot, evidently.

Via Amnesty International:

Amnesty International has published satellite imagery and new testimony that shed light on the horrific conditions in North Korea’s network of political prison camps, which hold an estimated 200,000 people.

The images reveal the location, size and conditions inside the camps. Amnesty International spoke to a number of people, including former inmates from the political prison camp at Yodok as well as guards in other political prison camps, to obtain information about life in the camps.

According to former detainees at the political prison camp at Yodok, prisoners are forced to work in conditions approaching slavery and are frequently subjected to torture and other cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment. All the detainees at Yodok have witnessed public executions.

“North Korea can no longer deny the undeniable. For decades the authorities have refused to admit to the existence of mass political prison camps,” said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International Asia Pacific Director.

Run Time - 4:28.

Journalism and Society: Reporting From Inside North Korea

Via The Economist

THE only publication written by North Koreans, about North Korea, for consumption by the outside world, is named after a river that flows from the North to South Korea and into the Yellow Sea. Rimjingang’s eight reporters are dotted about the totalitarian state; their backgrounds range from factory work to the civil service. In China they were trained in undercover recording techniques. And then they went home to begin their work. If caught, they surely face death.

Their reports are smuggled back into China, and then to Japan, where the magazine’s publisher, Asiapress, is based. Rimjingang produced a shocking video [above] late last year of a homeless young woman, her face blackened with dirt, foraging on a mountainside. Images of the woman, who may have died soon after, went around the world.

While knowledge may be a handy tool in fomenting civil unrest among a downtrodden populace, it is soft power that wins every time.

Perhaps the greatest force for change remains pirated DVDs from China. Though not a part of any deliberate effort to subvert the system, they mean that nearly everyone has seen South Korean soap operas and knows how prosperous Seoul really looks. “Fear still rules,” says a defector. “But people know more about the world than you might think.”

economist.com