Reuters photographer Damir Sagolj has won the Reuters Photo of the Year award for this image captured in North Korea in 2011.
“After days of excitement and lots of rare pictures in the provinces, I came back to Pyongyang without big plans for shooting in the capital. All I wanted were some moody general views of the city,” Sagolj wrote. “This is probably the easiest big picture I shot for a long time - it was taken from the window of my hotel room in Pyongyang early morning, just before the sunrise. I knew that portrait was there and I insisted with our hosts to get a room on a very high floor facing that direction. So, all I had to do is to wake up early in the morning, make a coffee, light a cigarette and make sure I exposed well. The scene has this eerie look for maybe 5 to 10 minutes, then the revolutionary songs and propaganda speeches from loudspeakers wake the city up.”
The photo shows a picture of North Korea’s founder Kim Il-sung decorating a building in the capital of Pyongyang on October 5, 2011.
(via soupsoup)
“KCNA reported last week that a family of bears who usually hibernate through the fierce Korean winter had been seen lamenting Kim Jong-il’s death.
“The bears, believed to be a mother and cubs, were staying on the road, crying woefully,” it said.”
Since it’s incredibly timely… National Geographic’s “Undercover in North Korea” with Lisa Ling
Inside North Korea
Earlier this year, David Guttenfelder, chief Asia photographer for the Associated Press, along with Jean H. Lee, AP bureau chief in Seoul, were granted unprecedented access to parts of North Korea as part of the AP’s efforts to expand coverage of the isolated communist nation.
(A view of central Pyongyang, North Korea, at dusk on April 12, 2011.)
Much more - The Atlantic
ABC Exclusive: President Obama Says North Korea Poses a 'Serious and Ongoing Threat'
In Interview with Barbara Walters, Obama Calls on China to Take a Stand Against North Korea
BREAKING NEWS: North Korea fires artillery shells that hit South island, AP reports
South Korea says North Korea has fired artillery onto an island and into the sea near the western border with South Korea.
A South Korean official says dozens of rounds of artillery landed on Yeonpyeong island. The official says South Korea fired back. The official had no other details.
The firing comes amid North Korea’s claim that it has a new uranium enrichment facility.
Carter wins release of American from North Korea - CNN.com
Former President Jimmy Carter is leaving North Korea Friday with a U.S. citizen who was imprisoned in the communist country after entering it illegally in January, according to the Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia.
Aijalon Mahli Gomes was imprisoned in January of this year and later sentenced to eight years of hard labor with a fine of about $600,000 for the crime of illegal entry into North Korea.
“At the request of President Carter, and for humanitarian purposes, Mr. Gomes was granted amnesty by the chairman of the National Defense Commission, Kim Jong-Il,” the Carter Center said in a statement. “It is expected that Mr. Gomes will be returned to Boston, Mass., early Friday afternoon, to be reunited with his mother and other members of his family.”
North Korea’s Loneliest Traffic Girl.
FOX News Reports: 2 U.S. Journalist [Laura Ling & Euna Lee] Sentenced To 12 Years In North Korean Prison Labor Camp.
State media says NKorea convicts 2 US journalists, sentences them to 12 years in labor prison
North Korea’s top court has convicted two U.S. journalists, and sentenced them to 12 years in labor prison, the country’s state news agency reported Monday.
The Central Court tried American TV reporters Laura Ling and Euna Lee and confirmed their unspecified “grave crime” against the nation, and of illegally crossing into North Korea, the Korean Central News Agency said.
It said the court - which tried the women from June 4 to 8 - “sentenced each of them to 12 years of reform through labor.” The report gave no other details.
The U.S. Embassy in Seoul said it had no immediate comment.
AP
