Media chiefs seek Korean thaw

North Korea has been virtually closed to foreign journalists

A delegation of 48 South Korean newspapers and television chiefs are travelling to North Korea in an unprecedented trip.

By going to North Korea we'll be able to better understand the north and in this way the media can play a more influential role

Kim Kyoung-cheol, Korea Times

The media visit is the latest initiative aimed at promoting closer ties between North and South Korea since the historic inter-Korean summit in June.

The presidents of South Korea's news organisations see their visit as a way of further opening up channels of communication with the North, which has been virtually closed to outside news media up until now.

While there is a free press in the South, communist North Korea regards journalists as tools of the state who are not permitted to question the party line.

Boycott

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il issued the the invitation to South Korea's media during his recent summit with the South's President Kim Dae-jung, which was aimed at ending hostilities on the peninsula.

Kim Jong-il: Courting the southern media

During their week-long visit, the media executives are scheduled to meet their North Korean counterparts to discuss media and cultural exchanges.

However, one newspaper president will be notably absent.

Chosun Ilbo, one of South Korea's most conservative papers and an out spoken critic of the North, has declined to take part.

A spokesman said they were not willing to take part in a guided press trip to pay respects to Kim Jong-il.

Movies

South Korean Culture Minister Park Jie-won, who will accompany the media executives, is taking four South Korean blockbuster movies as a gift for Kim Jong-il, who is a big film buff.

South Korea screened a North Korean movie last month for the first time since the peninsula's division in 1945.

But the film, which featured a Godzilla-like monster, was a flop in South Korean cinemas.

Mr Park said he planned to invite North Korean media people to Seoul.

He said Seoul would also propose an exchange project to send South Korean tourists to the North's scenic Paekdu Mountain and bring North Koreans to the South's resort island of Cheju.