KCNA caught doctoring photos again
Yet again, KCNA, the world’s least reputable news agency, has been caught providing a foreign news agency with a doctored photo, and said foreign news agency went to print with it and had to kill it. The alteration is not dramatic; instead, it is so casual as to suggest that to KCNA, this sort of thing is no big deal. Take a look at the small group of stragglers to the left of the orderly formations along the street. As this AP report puts it, “[W]hen a handful of dawdlers messed up those regimented lines, they were eliminated. From the photo, that is.” KCNA was only caught because a Kyodo news photographer shot the procession from the same vantage point at the same instant. Compare:
Recall that the Associated Press was taken in by an altered KCNA image several months ago, just after a splashy announcement that it was entering into an agreement with KCNA that allowed it to station a correspondent in Pyongyang and use KCNA content. Some of the reporting from the AP’s Jean H. Lee that followed seemed to reflect either an unhealthy sympathy for the regime or a degree of ideological captivity engendered by the new relationship. I haven’t seen anything so questionable under Lee’s byline since then. That time, the apparent objective was to make North Korea’s floods seem worse than they really were to gain foreign sympathy and aid. This time, the apparent objective is to portray a regimented image of North Korean society. A good starting point for analysis is to suspect the opposite of whatever illusion this regime projects. Casual observers of North Korea are usually taken in by the images of discipline, obedience, and adoration. Those who watch North Korea more carefully — and this knowledge is what tends to set them apart from the former group — know that life outside of Pyongyang increasingly totters on the edge of anarchy.
Late word is that another photograph of the funeral, this one distributed by the AP (courtesy of KNCA) has come under suspicion for the unnatural size of a lone soldier standing behind a formation of soldiers.
Word from ROK Drop is that tall guy is a former NBA tryout, who was eventually denied permission to stay away from DPRK. He’s 7’9″.
Ri was his name. He went to Canada in hopes of getting into the NBA, but the US State Department wouldn’t give him permission to play as they said all his earnings would go to the state and therefore, it would violate the trade restrictions with north Korea.
I kinda wish Pyongyang was tottering on the edge of anarchy. How bad does the country have to be before anyone… Koreans in the North, Koreans in the Republic or the so called ‘United Dictatorships (including a few real nations)’ does anything about it? Some tourists might be a little upset that their 5cm long by 10cm wide Asian USSR is now gone, but we must kill this regime somehow. I wonder if the KCNA will admit to the camps and show us doctored pictures of kids playing hide and seek and having fun in them, you know like the Nazi’s did! It’s the only thing the Kim’s haven’t copied from Hitler yet. Well… apart from speaking like a loon making hand gestures, to be honest I don’t like hearing them talk they can just easy enough make me sick just by looking at them.
Thomas, your troll comments are neither enlightening nor original. Your agenda is obvious; your motivations less so…
You have so much hate for the DPRK. It comfirms the notion that the puppet regime south of the 38th pararrel is really under the servitude of the U.S. We pray that one day Korea would be united by Koreans without the influence of western powers when south korea is liberated. American soldiers in south korea commit crimes and get away with easily. Stop this DPRK bashing, regime change would never happen in the DPRK.
It may interest you to know that inspite of the campaign of calumny against the DPR of Korea, there are several admirers of the North Korea all over the world. Please, do follow the activities of the Nigerian National Committee on the Study of Juche Idea on this blogspot–www.nigeriajucheidea.blogspot.com—- The adherents of Juche Idea are greatfull that after the passing away of H.E. Comrade Kim Jong Il, DPR of Korea is not only stable, but growing stronger. Those expecting system collapse are put to shame. LONG LIVE THE DREAM OF UNIFIED KOREA, LONG LIVE THE DPR OF KOREA.
Oh snap, we sure got on-the-spot guidanced!
“It may interest you to know that inspite of the campaign of calumny against the DPR of Korea, there are several admirers of the North Korea all over the world.”
Well, I knew about Cao de Banos. And George Galloway. So, that makes two. How many are required before you can call it “several”?
“It may interest you to know that inspite of the campaign of calumny against the DPR of Korea, there are several admirers of the North Korea all over the world.â€
And when the revolution comes, they deserve their own lamp posts to be strung up on, too!
I only worry Alhassan’s appeal could damage Nigeria’s reputation for ethical internet marketing.
Dorkly Chair: I wish I could have thumbs up’d your comment.
I find it very odd that they would erase the group to the far left yet place a lone straggler in the middle of the square on the tampered picture.
Do we know that the lone straggler was photoshopped in, though? The photos weren’t taken at *exactly* the same time. Look at the second car (the one with the round sign) relative to to the sharp white square of ground. The photo on the right is about a car length ahead. The V-formation of 5 cars behind it is similarly further along.
If the car is 15 feet long (a typical car length) and was moving at 5 MPH (a speed I remember driving in a parade), it was moving at about 7 feet per second — a good two seconds for the car to travel its own length. That’s plenty of time for somebody in the crowd to step back for whatever reason. Other aspects of the crowd are slightly different as well.
Still, it’s very odd that they removed the stragglers at bottom left and not the straggler at center right.