[News Briefing] AP withdraws KCNA photo, saying it was altered 

Posted on : 2011-07-19 15:27 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST

The Associated Press (AP) has asked its client agencies worldwide to withdraw a North Korean news agency’s photo of flooding in the North’s capital, saying it appears to have been altered through digital technology.
The photo taken by the North’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) was distributed to AP members and customers on July 16 and purports to show floods that hit Pyongyang a day earlier.
On Sunday, one day after the picture originally ran, the AP decided something about the picture didn’t quite look right and issued a “kill notice” -- a message telling subscribers that the agency no longer stands by the photo.
The AP, which has a contract with a Tokyo-based company to redistribute KCNA photos, said in an advisory, “Editors and librarians please eliminate from your photo systems and archives the AP photo (from the KCNA) on July 16, 2011. The content of this image has been digitally altered and does not accurately reflect the scene. No other version of the photo is available.”
North Korea watchers in Seoul speculate that the KCNA photo, if really altered, may have been aimed at exaggerating the flooding situation in North Korea to induce more international aid.
They said it’s not the first time the KCNA has been suspected of altering images. In 2008, it was accused of trying to pass off old photos of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il as fresh and adding Kim to an image of soldiers.
(Yonhap News)
 
Heat wave grips most of Korea, daytime high in Seoul to hit 33 degrees Celsius
We’re waking up to another hot day here in Korea this Tuesday morning following sweltering overnight temperatures across the nation offering little relief for residents in this country.
There were also power outages in some parts of Seoul as electricity usage neared record highs.
The Korea Meterological Agency forecast today to be another scorcher with daytime highs in much of the nation staying well above 30 degrees Celsius.
Capital Seoul is expected to see the mercury rise to 33 degrees on this Tuesday with some of the nation’s southwestern cities forecast to experience high temperatures up to 34 degrees.
Heat wave advisories and warnings are expected to be issued in all parts of Korea with the exception of the nation’s eastern coast.
The country’s weather agency forecast the scorching heat to stay in Korea throughout this week.
(Arirang News) 
 

Most viewed articles