Korean Central News Agency
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The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) is the state news agency of North Korea and has existed since December 5, 1946. KCNA is headquartered in the capital city of Pyongyang. In addition to Korean, KCNA releases news articles in English, Russian, and Spanish.
KCNA regularly reports news for all the North Korean news organizations (including newspaper, radio and TV broadcasts via Korean Central Television) within the country, and also is the main news organization of North Korea. Since December 1996 the KCNA has been publishing its news articles on the Internet with its web server located in Japan.
On January 1, 2006 the agency sent out a joint-editorial from North Korea's state newspapers calling for the withdrawal of American troops from South Korea. [1] While annual January 1st editorials are a tradition among the papers, that year's brought attention from Western media outlets, by calling for a "nationwide campaign for driving out the U.S. troops".[2] The editorial made several references to Korean reunification.
[edit] Recurring Themes
KCNA articles generally revolve around several specific themes:
- Detailing performances of cultural events, usually attended by various dignitaries
- Decrying the actions and attitudes of the United States, Japan, South Korea and other nations, particularly as regards military cooperation, historical events or trade among those nations
- Airing the official DPRK position on ongoing disputes with Japan over such matters as Chongryon and Comfort Women
- Calling for the reunification of Korea under the Juche idea.
- Communications, visits, and gifts to and from various like-minded or friendly nations.
- Wondrous new technological developments, many of which can be used as animal feed in addition to their regular usage. (a "tanning ferment", in an example from September 27, 2006)
Editorial practices reflect a recurrent theme of denying the legitimacy of any Korean rule except by Pyongyang:
- South Korea (ROK) is always referred to as "South Joseon (Korea)", as one would describe a place, not a nation. The articles often describe North Korea in the same fashion, referring to it as "North Joseon (Korea)", implying that the two countries will be reunited in the future.
- The ROK leadership are referenced in quotations, as in "government" "ministry" and "authorities" to imply illegitimacy
- Any laws or regulations enacted in the ROK are referenced in quotations, as in "National Security Law"
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- DPRK Database, contains daily KCNA bulletins, Korean Central TV daily newscasts, and other articles and videos on DPRK.
- KCNA, KCNA English and Spanish homepage hosted in Japan
