By Kang Seung-woo



Two news organizations are now engaged in a fight over the credibility of news reports about the world's most repressive regime.



NK News, a website that focuses on issues related to North Korea, reported on Dec. 24 that the Associated Press (AP) bureau in Pyongyang is censored by the North Korean government, raising questions of whether the news agency actually delivers new information from the reclusive state to the world. AP opened the bureau in the North's capital in January 2012.



According to a full draft agreement between the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) and AP, obtained by NK News, the bureau "shall serve the purpose of the coverage and worldwide distribution of policies of the Workers' Party of Korea and the DPRK government." DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.



It added that AP agreed to receive monthly transmission of about 10 Korean articles that would be translated into English, but "any correction to the contents and expression in the articles shall be made with full consultation between the two sides."



"AP tries not to be a mouthpiece of North Korea, but it is basically impossible under the terms the bureau operates," an AP staff member was quoted as saying.



The NK News report said that the Pyongyang bureau failed to produce a single article on the six-week absence of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un between September and October, while the issue was of international interest. The bureau in Pyongyang did not report any information regarding the Sony Pictures hacks that were allegedly carried out by the North, either.



Additionally, former two American detainees ― Matthew Miller and Jeffrey Fowle ― were interviewed by AP multiple times, but little was ever published, indicating AP cooperation in disseminating coached and coerced statements, the NK News noted.



AP's Seoul bureau was not available for any comment on the issue because it was not authorized to speak on the subject.



However, Paul Colford, AP's director of media relations, strongly denied all the allegations made in the article last week.



"NK News's Nate Thyer's latest article on Dec. 24 was full of errors, inaccuracies and baseless innuendo," he said in a statement.



He added that Thayer used to be an AP stringer who became disgruntled over a distribution agreement with AP covering video he had shot in Cambodia.



"The'draft agreement' between AP and North Korea's KCNA news agency that he cites is remote from the final document. Because of his reliance on this draft agreement, he makes a laughable assertion that AP's Pyongyang bureau submits to censorship by the North Korean government."



According to the NK News report, AP couriers "bring in $12,000 in bulk cash by hand each month, to cover the salaries of AP North Korean staff, and cover rent at the AP offices in the face of prohibitive financial sanctions.



Colford also refuted this, saying, "No serious news organization would hand over business agreements, salary information and other payment documentation."



