The Pyongyang Times

The Pyongyang Times is a weekly state-controlled English and French-language newspaper published in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, by the Foreign Languages Publishing House.[3] It is the foreign-language edition of the Pyongyang Sinmun.[1]

The Pyongyang Times
Front cover of The Pyongyang Times
TypeWeekly newspaper
FormatTabloid
PublisherForeign Languages Publishing House
Launched6 May 1965 (1965-05-06)
Political alignmentWorkers' Party of Korea (Pyongyang city party committee)[1]
LanguageEnglish and French
HeadquartersSochon-dong, Sosong District, Pyongyang, DPRK[2]
CityPyongyang
CountryNorth Korea
Circulation30,000 (as of 2002)
Sister newspapersPyongyang Sinmun
OCLC number7713208
Websitewww.pyongyangtimes.com.kp

History and availability

The eight-page tabloid was first launched on 6 May 1965 and is distributed in approximately 100 countries.[4][5] For this reason, its staff are trained in English abroad. The newspaper also runs a website in several languages.[4] Fifty-two issues of the paper are published annually.[6] As of January 2012 there have been 2,672 issues. The circulation of the English and French editions is 30,000.[1]

In North Korea, The Pyongyang Times is in hotel lobbies, flights into the country, and other places frequented by foreigners.

Naenara, the official North Korean news source, is the home of The Pyongyang Times.[7]

Structure and content

The structure of the paper is as follows: The front cover is usually devoted to Kim Jong-un, particularly visits to various institutions in the country and praising his leadership. The next few pages detail various technological and ideological exploits of the nation, followed by propaganda against South Korea, Japan, and the United States and other nations (such as Israel) who are considered hostile to North Korea.[8] The last pages are similar to that of the Rodong Sinmun, offering "foreign news"—though few major world events are covered, and most of its content is focused on like-minded or socialist nations.[9]

Most of its content, like all North Korean state media, is dedicated to leader Kim Jong-un. More specifically, most of the paper's news is translated from articles in the Rodong Sinmun.[9] It has been described as lacking "actual news"[10] and is "basically a rundown of Mr. Kim's daily agenda, with substantial flattery thrown in for good measure."[11]

Claims

The Pyongyang Times has made various claims about South Korea, particularly with regard to its allegedly poor human rights record. It has stated that 50 percent of South Koreans are unemployed, 57.6 percent are infected with tuberculosis, and that American soldiers with AIDS are posted in the south as a deliberate policy to infect the South Korean population.[9] In a 31 May 1986 article, it criticized the decision that the 1988 Olympics were to be held in South Korea, claiming that "If the Olympic Games were to be held in South Korea, many sportsmen and tourists of the world would meet death, infected with AIDS."[12] Meanwhile, it has described North Korea as the only country in the world that has no HIV/AIDS sufferers.[13]

However, the paper was relatively open during the major flooding in 2007, providing an extensive list of damage in the country. It stated that 20,300 homes were destroyed and "several hundred" people had died, as well as damage to "223,000 hectares of farmland, 300 bridges, 200 mining pits, 82 reservoirs, and 850 power lines."[14][15]

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See also

References
  1. Yonhap News Agency, Seoul (27 December 2002). North Korea Handbook. M.E. Sharpe. p. 416. ISBN 978-0-7656-3523-5.
  2. "Naenara". naenara.com.kp. 2015. Retrieved 2015-02-13.
  3. "KWP Propaganda and Agitation Department" (PDF). North Korea Leadership Watch. November 2009. p. 2. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
  4. "North Korea This Week No. 435 (8 February 2007)." Yonhap.
  5. 2,000th issue of Pyongyang times Archived 2014-10-12 at the Wayback Machine. Korean Central News Agency. 2 March 1999.
  6. "Pyongyang Times". MapXL Inc.
  7. "Korean Studies: Newspapers". George Washington University. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  8. Wee, Teo Cheng (1 May 2006). Passage to Pyongyang: Key information. Asiaone Travel / The Straits Times. Archived 2017-12-06 at the Wayback Machine
  9. Andrew Holloway (2003). A Year in Pyongyang. Published by Aidan Foster-Carter. Honorary Senior Research Fellow in Sociology and Modern Korea, Leeds University. OCLC 824133830.
  10. Bloomfield, Steve (25 April 2004). How news broke in Pyongyang - silently. The Independent.
  11. Lister, Richard (28 October 2000). Life in Pyongyang. BBC News.
  12. Senn, Alfred Erich (1999). Power, politics, and the Olympic Games. Human Kinetics. p. 221. ISBN 978-0-88011-958-0.
  13. "North Korea Expels 27 Foreign HIV Carriers —report." Yonhap. 18 December 2004.
  14. Johnson, Tim (3 September 2007). North Korea opens up, a little Archived 2009-04-18 at the Wayback Machine. The McClatchy Company.
  15. Watts, Jonathan (3 September 2007). New paint and MP3 players: Pyongyang's nuclear dividend. The Guardian.
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