Unusual Foreign Correspondents at the Inter-Korean Summit

Inter-Korean Summit Press Corps | 2018-04-26 18:59 (KST)

“Besides the journalists from the world’s four major news agencies, they come from such out-of-the-way places as Bulgaria, Cameroon, and Nigeria.”

“They range from countries such as Japan, which has sent more than 100 reporters to cover the Summit, to Argentina’s La Tribu TV.”

Since April 25, foreign media journalists from all over the globe have gathered for the 2018 Inter-Korean Summit, covering the news at Panmunjeom or from the Press Center at KINTEX in Ilsan. The foreign correspondents who have been arriving at the Press Center since Wednesday have marveled at the efficient operation and the large-scale conference facilities. They have also expressed their best wishes for the upcoming Summit on Friday.

The correspondents from African countries include eight from Diplomats Extra Magazine, the Authority Newspapers and Leadership, a Nigerian national daily; one from Spectrum Television in Cameroon; one from the Bulgarian weekly Capital; and one from Argentina’s La Tribu TV. Finland, Ireland, Iran and Pakistan have also sent one correspondent each, demonstrating the keen global interest in the upcoming Summit.

Importantly, Lu Rui of Xinhua News Agency, who had worked as a correspondent in Pyeongyang for two years from 2014, is covering the Summit as a member of the Inter-Korean Summit Press Corps. He was recently assigned to his agency’s branch office in Seoul.

Among those who have joined the journalist influx, resident correspondent Fabian Kretschmer from the Austrian newspaper Wiener Zeitung and Lena Schipper, Seoul Bureau Chief for the London-based magazine The Economist, have attracted attention for being from East Berlin, of the once-divided Germany.

The U.S.-based CNN’s star reporter Christiane Amanpour and China’s CCTV newsreader Shui Junyi, who interviewed President Moon Jae-in last December, will broadcast the Summit live from a temporary studio set up at Imjingak Park. The popular NHK news anchor Yoshio Arima will cover the event from both the temporary studio near Dorasan Station and at the KINTEX Press Center.