North Korea is attracting attention for its decision to allow Associated Press to set up a bureau in Pyongyang. Although Chinese agencies Xinhua and People’s Daily as well as Russian media giant ITAR-TASS already have offices in Pyongyang, AP is the first western media outlet allowed to establish an office inside the country.
Holding a ceremony to commemorate the opening on January 16th with KCNA President Kim Byung Ho, AP president Tom Curley promised to report news on North Korea based on fairness, balance and accuracy. Curley said, “We will do our best to accurately reflect the people of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea as well as what they do and say.”
Some see the decision by North Korea to open its doors to western media as significant, noting the potential risks to the regime and that it has so strictly forbidden western media in the past.
There are some views that the government’s gesture to open its doors is a sign to the outside world that fair reporting is possible from within North Korea. It may even reveal their desire to get off the bottom of Reporters Sans Frontieres Press Freedom Index, of which North Korea has never been higher than second-last spot since its inception in 2002.
Others are raising suspicions that this new geniality to the American press is the first move in a charm-offensive designed to kick-start the Kim Jong Eun regime’s engagement with foreign donors, hoping that it may lead to food aid and better relations with the U.S.
A third view is that it is an expression of confidence in the durability of the regime, in effect declaring that western media entering and reporting from within the country will not pose any serious problems.
Choi Jin Wook, a senior researcher at the Korean Institute of National Unification (KINU) told Daily NK his view, saying, “Their intention is to aggressively promote an image of peace by accepting the media of the western world,” adding that “there is an element of desperation to show the west that the Kim Jong Eun regime is stable.”
Choi noted that North Korea received food aid from the United States in 1995 after allowing western journalists to report on the hunger crisis in the country. “They are hoping to use AP to turn fortunes in their favor like they did back then,” he said.
Desptie AP’s success in gaining a foothold in the country, the media in North Korea has traditionally only played a role of propagandizing and lobbying the policy decisions of Kim Jong Il and glorifying the Kim family. Any content reported in the media first undergoes the direction and instruction of the central propaganda department.
For this reason, it is widely assumed that AP will only be able to report within the scope allowed by the North Korean authorities. In other words, it is going to be difficult for AP to properly report on the reality within North Korea and the voices of the public. KINU’s Choi predicts, “The North Korean authorities will only allow messages it wants to be reported to get out.”
Jang Hae Seong, who was once a journalist in the KCNA’s political department said, “Foreign media will of course be subjected to inspections and controls, and have their freedom of movement restricted.”
“The Chinese and Russian media are not subjected to inspections, but the western media will only be able to gather news in places where NSA agents are willing to take them,” Jang said.
