Pyongyang Journalists Laud Real Time News Service
By Kim Tae-jong
Staff Reporter
The press center at Lotte Hotel in downtown Seoul closed last night after the three-day inter-Korean summit ended.
Journalists from home and abroad, who were busy covering the historical event, expressed overall satisfaction on the upgraded services for the media at the center.
Especially for the foreign press, the most satisfying change was the real time English news service through Infonet, which linked the joint press corps in Pyongyang and the media at the press center in Seoul.
``Of course, it was helpful,'' Peter Kujath, Tokyo bureau chief of ARD Radio Network of Germany said. ``I don't speak Korean and I have to get some information in English. Therefore, it's absolutely necessary that they have information in English.''
But it would have been better if the English news service had been offered a bit faster as international news media want to get quick access to latest developments, he said.
Through Infonet, the joint press corps in the North was able to send out photos and news stories to the press center.
The upgraded Internet service was possible thanks to the fiber optic cable between the two Koreas, which was first installed for video conferences to facilitate the reunion of displaced families in the North and South.
``There were not many technical problems (to launch the new service),'' said Song Yoon-seog, director of the New Media Service Team at the Korean Overseas Information Service (KOIS). ``We believe that the new service well proves South Korea's highly-developed information technology (IT).''
The press center registered a total of 1,377 journalists from 239 media outlets around the world _ 373 foreign journalists from 90 news outlets and 1,004 Korean journalists from 149 local media, proving the significance of the summit and international interest in it.
From 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., some 400 seats at the center were filled during the summit period. Later, the center was equipped with 100 more seats due to the demands from late-coming reporters.
``We aimed to offer substantial and practical assistance to the press as our top priority,'' said Seo Kang-soo, director general of the Contents Managing Bureau of KOIS. ``With the experience now, we will prepare to offer better services to brace for the possible regularization of inter-Korean summits and other inter-Korean events.''