PYONGYANG, North Korea ? The Associated Press has opened its newest bureau here, becoming the first international news organization with a full-time presence to cover news from North Korea in words, pictures and video.
In a ceremony Monday that came less than a month after the death of longtime ruler Kim Jong Il and capped nearly a year of discussions, AP President and CEO Tom Curley and a delegation of top AP editors inaugurated the office, situated inside the headquarters of the state-run Korean Central News Agency in downtown Pyongyang.
The bureau expands the AP’s presence in North Korea, building on the breakthrough in 2006 when AP opened a video bureau in Pyongyang for the first time by an international news organization. Exclusive video from AP video staffers in Pyongyang was used by media outlets around the world following Kim’s death.
Now, AP writers and photojournalists will also be allowed to work in North Korea on a regular basis.
For North Korea, which for decades has remained largely off-limits to international journalists, the opening marked an important gesture, particularly because North Korea and the United States have never had formal diplomatic relations. The AP, an independent, 165-year-old news cooperative founded in New York and owned by its U.S. newspaper membership, has operations in more than 100 countries and employs nearly 2,500 journalists across the world in 300 locations.
The bureau puts AP in a position to document the people, places and politics of North Korea across all media platforms at a critical moment in its history, with Kim’s death and the ascension of his young son as the country’s new leader, Curley said in remarks prepared for the opening.
“Beyond this door lies a path to vastly larger understanding and cultural enrichment for millions around the world,” Curley said. “Regardless of whether you were born in Pyongyang or Pennsylvania, you are aware of the bridge being created today.”
Curley said the Pyongyang bureau will operate under the same standards and practices as AP bureaus worldwide.
“Everyone at The Associated Press takes his or her responsibilities of a free and fair press with utmost seriousness,” he said. “We pledge to do our best to reflect accurately the people of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea as well as what they do and say.”
“The world knows very little about the DPRK, and this gives us a unique opportunity to bring the world news that it doesn’t now have,” Curley said.
KCNA President Kim Pyong Ho called the occasion “a significant meeting.”
“I believe that the reason we are able to conduct all these projects in less than a year is that President and CEO Thomas Curley and the other members of the AP have promised to report on the DPRK with fairness, balance and accuracy, and have tried to follow through in collaboration with KCNA,” he said in remarks prepared to mark the occasion.
“Even though our two countries do not have normalized relations, we have been able to find a way to understand one another and to cooperate closely enough to open an AP bureau here in Pyongyang as we have today,” Kim said.
The North Korean capital, dappled in snow, remains in an outwardly subdued mood two weeks after the official mourning period concluded for Kim Jong Il, who died of a heart attack last month. His son, Kim Jong Un, has since become the third generation of his family to lead North Korea, following his father and grandfather, the nation’s founder.
Kim’s death came amid increased diplomatic activity surrounding the Korean peninsula, including recent bilateral meetings between North Korea and South Korea, and between North Korea and the United States. While his death put all that on hold, there are hints that North Korea remains willing to engage on a deal to restart six-party talks addressing the country’s nuclear program.
The AP bureau will be staffed by reporter Pak Won Il and photographer Kim Kwang Hyon, both natives of North Korea who have done some reporting for AP in recent weeks on Kim’s funeral and the mass public mourning on the streets of Pyongyang.
The bureau will be supervised by Korea Bureau Chief Jean H. Lee and Chief Asia Photographer David Guttenfelder, who will make frequent trips to Pyongyang to manage the office, train the local journalists and conduct their own reporting. Lee and Guttenfelder, both Americans, are longtime AP journalists with broad international experience.
As with other Asian news stories produced by AP, news from North Korea will be sent initially to AP’s Asia-Pacific regional editing desk in Bangkok, where AP editors review and edit the stories for distribution to AP member newspapers and customers. Similarly, photos from North Korea will be edited at the Asia-Pacific photo editing desk, located in Tokyo.
Over the past two years, AP has been in contact with North Korean officials about how to set up broader access for AP print and photo journalists to Pyongyang. This led Lee and Guttenfelder to make several extensive reporting trips to North Korea. A team of AP photojournalists conducted a three-day workshop for KCNA photographers in Pyongyang in October.
KCNA hosted Curley and other AP executives in Pyongyang in March, and a five-member KCNA delegation, led by Kim, attended talks at the AP’s world headquarters in New York City in June.
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Follow Jean H. Lee on Twitter at twitter.com/newsjean and photographer David Guttenfelder at twitter.com/dguttenfelder.
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120117/ap_on_bi_ge/associated_press_nkorea
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In a Monday, Aug. 22, 2011, photo provided by the University of Tennessee, Tennessee women’s basketball coach Pat Summitt sits next to her son, Tyler Summitt, at her Knoxville, Tenn., home. Summitt plans to coach “as long as the good Lord is willing” despite recently being diagnosed with early onset dementia. In a statement from Summitt released by the university on Tuesday, the Hall of Fame coach said she visited with doctors at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., after the end of the 2010-11 basketball season ended and was diagnosed with early onset dementia–Alzheimer’s type–over the summer. (AP Photo/University of Tennessee, Debby Jennings)
In a Monday, Aug. 22, 2011, photo provided by the University of Tennessee, Tennessee women’s basketball coach Pat Summitt sits next to her son, Tyler Summitt, at her Knoxville, Tenn., home. Summitt plans to coach “as long as the good Lord is willing” despite recently being diagnosed with early onset dementia. In a statement from Summitt released by the university on Tuesday, the Hall of Fame coach said she visited with doctors at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., after the end of the 2010-11 basketball season ended and was diagnosed with early onset dementia–Alzheimer’s type–over the summer. (AP Photo/University of Tennessee, Debby Jennings)
In a Monday, Aug. 22, 2011, photo provided by the University of Tennessee, Tennessee women’s basketball coach Pat Summitt sits next to her son, Tyler Summitt, at her Knoxville, Tenn. Summitt plans to coach “as long as the good Lord is willing” despite recently being diagnosed with early onset dementia. In a statement from Summitt released by the university on Tuesday, the Hall of Fame coach said she visited with doctors at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., after the end of the 2010-11 basketball season ended and was diagnosed with early onset dementia–Alzheimer’s type–over the summer.(AP Photo/University of Tennessee, Debby jennings)
In a Monday, Aug. 22, 2011, photo provided by the University of Tennessee, Tennessee women’s basketball coach Pat Summitt sits with her yellow Labrador, Sadie, at her home in Knoxville. Tenn. Summitt plans to coach “as long as the good Lord is willing” despite recently being diagnosed with early onset dementia. In a statement from Summitt released by the university on Tuesday, the Hall of Fame coach said she visited with doctors at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., after the end of the 2010-11 basketball season ended and was diagnosed with early onset dementia–Alzheimer’s type–over the summer. (AP Photo/University of Tennessee, Debby Jennings)
FILE – This March 6, 2011 file photo shows Tennessee head coach Pat Summitt yelling at an official in the first half of an NCAA college basketball championship game against Kentucky, at the Southeastern Conference tournament in Nashville, Tenn. Summitt has been diagnosed with early onset dementia. The Knoxville News Sentinel first reported Summitt’s condition. The 59-year-old Summitt told the newspaper she plans to rely on medication and mental exercises to manage the progressive condition that could lead to Alzheimer’s. She planned to meet with the Lady Volunteers on Tuesday afternoon, Aug. 23, 2011, to inform them of the diagnosis. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)
FILE – This March 27, 2011 file photo shows Tennessee women’s head basketball coach Pat Summitt listening to a question during a news conference, in Dayton, Ohio. Summitt has been diagnosed with early onset dementia. The Knoxville News Sentinel first reported Summitt’s condition. The 59-year-old Summitt told the newspaper she plans to rely on medication and mental exercises to manage the progressive condition that could lead to Alzheimer’s. She planned to meet with the Lady Volunteers on Tuesday afternoon, Aug. 23, 2011, to inform them of the diagnosis. (AP Photo/Al Behrman, File)
Pat Summitt made it clear. She won’t accept a “pity party.”
The winningest coach in women’s basketball just wants to focus on getting Tennessee back on top.
Summitt surprised the sports world with her announcement Tuesday that she had been diagnosed with early onset dementia ? the Alzheimer’s type. The Hall of Fame coach appeared stoic during a minute-long video posted on the school’s website.
“I plan to continue to be your coach,” the 59-year-old said in the video. “Obviously, I realize I may have some limitations with this condition since there will be some good days and some bad days.”
There is no cure for the disease and even Summitt’s icy glare that has struck fear in many an opponent, official or Lady Vols player, won’t be able to stop its advances.
Still she said she won’t have her time at Tennessee turn into a “pity party.”
Summitt isn’t sure how much longer she will coach only saying that she would do it “as long as the good Lord is willing”.
Before Tuesday’s news, Summitt was trying to figure out a way to end a three-year drought of missing the Final Four ? one of the longest in her 37-year tenure at the school. She does have one of the top recruiting classes coming in this year as freshmen.
She met with her team Tuesday to discuss her diagnosis. Junior guard Taber Spani said the meeting was businesslike, with Summitt telling the Lady Vols nothing would get in the way for their quest of a ninth national title this season.
“It’s shocking, just because you don’t expect that to happen to someone you look up to,” Spani said. “I admire her, and just seeing her just gave me more confidence in her as a coach. We’re going to rally.”
Summitt will rely more on her assistants ? Holly Warlick, Dean Lockwood and Mickie DeMoss ? but they aren’t sure exactly how things may change.
“We’re here to help Pat as far as coaching and will help this program continue its tradition. And I’m here for Pat as a friend,” Warlick said. “I know she’s going to be here coaching, but she is quick to say this is Tennessee basketball. We’re going to carry on the tradition no matter what.”
Warlick said Summitt also wanted to crush any speculation about her health after the announcement.
“We got on the phone immediately and called kids and commitments and had nothing but a huge amount of support,” Warlick said. “I think it’s one thing to see it on the (TV news) ticker. It’s another thing to hear from Pat Summitt that we’re here, we’re going to be here and nothing is going to change about Tennessee basketball.”
Summitt’s family and closest confidants have known about her condition since she first learned of it, but the Hall of Fame coach first revealed the news publicly to the Washington Post and Knoxville News Sentinel.
She also told her former players early Tuesday morning.
“As a player, we know coach is the type who’s not going to give up. She’s going to fight, she’s going to do everything she can,” said Michelle Snow, who played for Tennessee from 1998-2002. “She’s probably going to be the best patient they ever had. She’s a fighter and she’s been through a lot. She knows how to fight and she’s going to continue to do that.”
As the stunning news swept across the women’s basketball world Tuesday, the reaction was simple: she’ll meet the disease head on.
Indiana Fever coach Lin Dunn first met Summitt 40 years ago at Tennessee-Martin. The two used to play softball in the summer together and were sorority sisters. She was floored this morning when she got the phone call with the news.
“My first reaction was tremendous respect, how she was publicly acknowledging this disease. I know how tough minded she is, tremendous perseverance,” Dunn said by phone. “She will bring national attention to this disease and she can spearhead a move to try and fight it.”
That sentiment was echoed by former Lady Vols star Candace Parker.
“I don’t think she is going to let it affect her,” the Los Angeles Sparks star said. “I think she is going to continue on coaching as long as she can. She came out with (the news) and now we’re going to move forward.”
Summitt’s biggest rival, Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma was shocked and saddened by the news.
“You don’t necessarily associate dementia with people our age, so this announcement really put things in perspective,” he said.
Summitt has won eight national titles at Tennessee and is 29 victories short of 1,100 ? that would give her 200 more than former Texas coach Jody Conradt, who is No. 2 on the list.
“It always seemed she had no vulnerability,” Conradt said. “She’s the solid rock everyone looked up to. … I’m very happy she’s not going to walk off the court at this point. When you have made it your life, there needs to be transition.”
Summitt has been bothered for a while by rheumatoid arthritis. Tennessee athletics director Joan Cronan said that the coach initially chalked up her memory problems to side effects from medicine she was taking to treat it.
The coach first consulted local doctors, who recommended she undergo a more extensive evaluation. In May, she traveled to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., where doctors performed a spinal tap and other tests that eventually produced the diagnosis.
Summitt’s first reaction was anger, but that soon gave way to determination.
“She’s ready to fight this and move on,” Cronan said. “She had to come to grips with how she wanted to face it.”
Talking about it was a big step and her son Tyler was instrumental in making that happen.
“Tyler has been so courageous in this,” Summitt’s longtime associate head coach Holly Warlick said. “He encouraged her to come forward.”
Tyler has been supporting his mother throughout this process; he went to the Mayo Clinic with her in May. And though he has been a great sounding board, the 20-year-old said his mom’s revelation is a life lesson for everyone.
“It seems like she teaches me something new everyday, and she is currently giving me one of the best life lessons of all: to have the courage to be open, honest, and face the truth,” he said. “This will be a new chapter for my mom and I, and we will continue to work as a team like we always have done.”
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AP Sports Writers Beth Rucker and Jim Vertuno contributed to this story.
___
Follow Doug Feinberg at http://twitter.com/dougfeinberg.
Associated Press
Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-08-24-BKW-Summitt-Moving-Forward/id-32f9bd4a428e4c9a910174cfb1951e7a
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