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A Tweet from Tom Chesire

On the morning of May 23, North Korea accepted the credentials of South Korean reporters who had applied to cover the closing of the North’s “northern nuclear test site,” located in Punggye Village, Kilju County, North Hamgyong Province.

Thanks to this dramatic reversal, the South Korean reporters who had been forced to stay behind while other foreign reporters in Beijing departed for Wonsan the day before will finally be allowed to join the press coverage at Punggye Village.

“When we initiated a phone call at Panmunjeom today, our government provided North Korea with a list of eight reporters from two South Korean media outlets [MBC and News 1] who are planning to report from the scene of the closing of North Korea’s nuclear test site in Punggye Village, and North Korea accepted that list,” said a senior official from the Unification Ministry.

“The government is planning to quickly take the necessary steps, including granting the reporters permission to visit North Korea and assisting with their transportation,” the official added.

The Unification Ministry had previously said on the evening of May 22 that if North Korea accepted the list of South Korean reporters, they could fly directly to Wonsan, as was done during the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. This is prompting expectations that the South Korean reporters will fly directly to Wonsan using the direct route on the East Sea.

“We're still being told the weather is too bad for travel. [. . .] What might be delaying us is the arrival of South Korean journalists, [. . .] Name cards have just been placed for them in the press centre,” tweeted Tom Cheshire, a reporter with Britain’s Sky News, after arriving in North Korea on May 22.

On May 23, the Unification Ministry announced that the South Korean journalists assembled for the closing of the nuclear test site at Punggye Village “will gather at Seoul Air Base at 11:30 am for a 12:30 flight aboard a government carrier directly to Wonsan.”

The plane expected to transport the South Korean reporters is in fact a military aircraft provided by the South Korean Air Force, but is referred to as “government aircraft” when used for civilian purposes. It is the same plane that NIS director Suh Hoon and Blue House National Security Office director Chung Eui-yong took as part of a special delegation to North Korea in March.

However, it is exceptionally rare for “government aircraft” to be used for inter-Korean visits. Even the group of South Korean artists dispatched to North Korea shortly after the PyeongChang Winter Olympics traveled aboard a civilian aircraft.

By Lee Je-hun, senior staff writer, and Kim Ji-eun, staff reporter

Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]