South Korean reporters to fly to North and witness dismantling of Punggye-ri nuclear test site
- 6 years ago
北 우리나라 취재진 명단 수요일 아침 접수
South Korean reporters have now arrived in the North Korean city of Wonsan on the east coast.
It's the same place where the rest of the international press from the U.S., China, Russia and the UK have been staying.
The regime, after several days of uncertainty, finally accepted the list of South Korean reporters who had been initially invited to go and witness the dismantling of the Punggye-ri nuclear test site.
And for more on this,... we connect live to our Lee Ji-won at the Foreign Ministry.
So Ji-won, what's the latest?
Eight South Korean reporters whose North Korean visas had not been confirmed due to friction between the two Koreas... finally got the greenlight from Pyongyang this morning and arrived in Wonsan at around 2 p.m.
The reporters departed from the Seoul Air Base in Seongnam at around half past noon, on a government aircraft, flying over the East Sea straight to Wonsan.
And though it was a rough process, the South Korean press corps showed they were prepared and going with a sense of responsibility.
"We will be witnessing the first step of the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula as the representatives of South Korea's combined press corps. We will do our best to report on everything happening on the site quickly and accurately." . .
Alright, so they're in Wonsan as are the foreign reporters. What's the schedule now? When are they going to head to the test site? I understand it's supposed to be a pretty arduous trip.
According to Sky News correspondent Tom Cheshire, a British reporter who is one of the international journalists on the trip, the team had been told that they will be getting on their train to Punggye-ri today.
The plan had been postponed from last night until this morning, supposedly due to "bad weather," but they still haven't left yet.
The journey to the northeastern test site, some 500 kilometers away, is not going to be easy -- with a train ride of some 12 hours,... followed by another 4-hour bus ride and a 2-hour hike to the site.
What we can expect for now is that the reporters will spend the night on the train, watch the blowing up of the test site, hopefully on Thursday, and then come back to Wonsan where a press center has been set up for the reporters to work in.
That's all from me for now, I'll be back with more updates later.
Devin.
South Korean reporters have now arrived in the North Korean city of Wonsan on the east coast.
It's the same place where the rest of the international press from the U.S., China, Russia and the UK have been staying.
The regime, after several days of uncertainty, finally accepted the list of South Korean reporters who had been initially invited to go and witness the dismantling of the Punggye-ri nuclear test site.
And for more on this,... we connect live to our Lee Ji-won at the Foreign Ministry.
So Ji-won, what's the latest?
Eight South Korean reporters whose North Korean visas had not been confirmed due to friction between the two Koreas... finally got the greenlight from Pyongyang this morning and arrived in Wonsan at around 2 p.m.
The reporters departed from the Seoul Air Base in Seongnam at around half past noon, on a government aircraft, flying over the East Sea straight to Wonsan.
And though it was a rough process, the South Korean press corps showed they were prepared and going with a sense of responsibility.
"We will be witnessing the first step of the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula as the representatives of South Korea's combined press corps. We will do our best to report on everything happening on the site quickly and accurately." . .
Alright, so they're in Wonsan as are the foreign reporters. What's the schedule now? When are they going to head to the test site? I understand it's supposed to be a pretty arduous trip.
According to Sky News correspondent Tom Cheshire, a British reporter who is one of the international journalists on the trip, the team had been told that they will be getting on their train to Punggye-ri today.
The plan had been postponed from last night until this morning, supposedly due to "bad weather," but they still haven't left yet.
The journey to the northeastern test site, some 500 kilometers away, is not going to be easy -- with a train ride of some 12 hours,... followed by another 4-hour bus ride and a 2-hour hike to the site.
What we can expect for now is that the reporters will spend the night on the train, watch the blowing up of the test site, hopefully on Thursday, and then come back to Wonsan where a press center has been set up for the reporters to work in.
That's all from me for now, I'll be back with more updates later.
Devin.