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TASS, KCNA news agencies sign new cooperation agreement

The agreement envisages the exchange of news stories as well as assistance to journalists of North Korea and Russia accredited in Moscow and in Pyongyang on a permanent basis

General Director of the Korean Central News Agency Kim Chan Gwang, center Yevgeny Agoshkov/TASS

General Director of the Korean Central News Agency Kim Chan Gwang, center

© Yevgeny Agoshkov/TASS

PYONGYANG, October 8./TASS/. TASS Director General Sergei Mikhailov and General Director of the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) Kim Chan Gwang signed a new agreement on cooperation between the news agencies in Pyongyang on Tuesday.

The agreement envisages the exchange of news stories as well as assistance to journalists of North Korea and Russia accredited in Moscow and in Pyongyang on a permanent basis. The sides also agreed on yearly mutual visits of their delegations to share experience.

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"The agreement in effect between TASS and KCNA until the present moment was signed in 2005, and much water has passed under the bridge since then, much has changed in the politics of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and in relations between our agencies. Steps that would be unthinkable some time ago can be taken now," Sergei Mikhailov commented on the new agreement.

"We strongly hope that we will expand our bureau in Pyongyang, will open a photo center there, and today’s negotiations with the KCNA general director inspire hope," Mikhailov added.

At the moment, TASS is the only Russian media outlet with a permanent bureau in Pyongyang.

"The flow of information is universal, that is why we must supply news from various points of the globe, and of course from the DPRK, which is now in many respects in the focus of attention of the global media as well as political forces and resources," Mikhailov noted. "That is why, it is important for us to be in the know of what is going on here, to learn this firsthand and deliver this news to our clients in Russia and across the globe," he added.

The KCNA general director, for his part, highlighted the role of TASS in covering the events in the DPRK. He said that countering fake news was among the key issues in partnership of the two news agencies. "We increasingly often see misrepresentation of information in the news environment, and we must counter the dissemination of such fake news," he stressed. "I believe that KCNA and TASS news agencies must join efforts towards this goal," he added.

The signing ceremony was held in the presence of the head of the Federal Agency for Press and Mass Media, Mikhail Seslavinsky, and Russian Ambassador to North Korea Alexander Matsegora.

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