Foreign reporters unhappy with 'zero' invitations to Pyongyang
Journalists, including those from outside South Korea, attend to covering the third inter-Korean summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Sept. 18-20 at the Main Press Center in Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Joint Press Corps
By Jung Da-min
Foreign reporters based in Seoul are upset that they were not invited to Pyongyang to cover the three-day inter-Korean summit from Tuesday to Thursday.
Chad O'Carroll in Pyongyang during his reporting trip to cover North Korea's Sept. 9 foundation day celebrations. Courtesy of NK News
“Foreign media should be there because it is an international event surrounding the biggest foreign policy concern of the U.S.,” NK News managing director Chad O'Carroll told The Korea Times, Wednesday.
He has made five times of trips to the North since 2010.
“South Korean media were welcomed en masse to Singapore and hundreds of South Korean journalists went, because that issue was as much of concern to Seoul as the inter-Korean summit is to foreigners,” he said.
Although a journalist with South Korea's English media was included in the media delegation to Pyongyang, O'Carroll said there was still need to invite foreign reporters to provide different perspectives to global audiences.
“Foreign media will be able to provide news on the ground that is better suited to their various global audiences,” he said. “This would include interviews on the ground better tailored to questions of interest in countries like the U.S., the U.K., Japan and other countries.”
O'Carroll said that the South Korean government did not treat foreign media as fairly as local media, and this hindered accurate and timely coverage outside Korea and caused communication problems between foreign media and the government.
“We are prohibited from attending most government press conferences and entering government buildings, due to pressure from local media and years old customs,” he said.
“In addition, we are often relying on non-government private entities like the Seoul Foreign Correspondents' Club to obtain pool access to media events, rather than the government itself. Finally, we often have to rely on single points of contact at ministries who are often overloaded with the questions of hundreds of foreign media.”
Of the 2,690 journalists who registered for the main press center in Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) in downtown Seoul, 451 journalists, or 16 percent, were from foreign media, according to Cheong Wa Dae.
Korean journalists from 15 media outlets were allowed to go from Seoul to Pyongyang, but no foreign reporters were included in the delegation to the North.
This is because inter-Korean relations, including summits, are not in work scope of North Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which usually invite foreign reporters to the country's international events.
While the only way foreign media could have been invited to the Pyongyang September summit would be through inter-Korean channels, North Korea tends to support only “inter-Korean” exchanges.