North Korea dateline for ABC News
Fri Jun 10, 2005 08:45 AM ET
By Paul J. Gough
NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - ABC News is giving viewers a look behind one of the world's last Iron Curtains, North Korea.
Since Wednesday, correspondent Bob Woodruff and a handful of other ABC News staffers have been touring the communist country -- a nuclear power and part of President Bush's "Axis of Evil" -- and filing reports for "World News Tonight" and "Good Morning America." They're expected to stay in North Korea until Friday or Saturday.
But it's taken years for ABC News to get the permission it needed from the People's Republic of Korea, known for its secrecy and sometimes belligerence ever since the truce that ended the Korean War in 1953.
Woodruff last reported from North Korea in October 2000 while on a trip with Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. It's been almost as long that the network has been negotiating with officials to return to the country, ABC News senior vp Paul Slavin said.
Slavin said North Korea's relationship with the rest of the world is troubling and of great consequence -- not to mention newsworthy.
"We understand the importance of the PRK. We understand the potential of conflict," Slavin said.
Getting North Korea to accept an American news crew working in the country proved to be a difficult task. ABC News' message to the PRK officials: that they are an objective, fair news organization that would treat them objectively and fairly, though ABC News wouldn't agree to any restrictions.
In September, an ABC News producer was in the country briefly along with an aid group. But it wasn't until ABC News president David Westin -- along with ABC News foreign editor Chuck Lustig -- spent a week in North Korea visiting high-ranking officials that sealed the deal. Slavin said Westin's trip was essential.
"Don't underestimate the power of the president of the news division visiting the country," Slavin said. "When David did that, that really helped secure access because they saw how serious we were. David is a terrific diplomat."
ABC News found out about a month ago that it was likely to get visas for Woodruff and crew, and they left the U.S. for Beijing and then arrived via air in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, on Tuesday.
Lustig couldn't be reached for comment in Pyongyang on Thursday night.
ABC News hasn't run up against any censorship or restrictions, save one.
"There were no conditions outside of the fact that we were going to be accompanied by a North Korean official," Slavin said. "There's always somebody with them." He said that there has been limited and controlled contact with regular citizens, and Woodruff was allowed to talk to a high-ranking official who talked candidly about North Korea's nuclear weapons program.
There are no plans at the moment for an extended reports beyond what is being shown right now, but Slavin didn't rule it out. He said that ABC News is interested in making sure that they get to go back in the future.
"This is a long-range reporting plan, not just one trip," he said. "It's not weeks and I can't really say months (away). I don't know how the North Koreans or the PRK feel about the trips. We are not pulling our punches."
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter |
