North Korean state media mum on Bosworth visit

I was curious to see how the Korean Central News Agency, the official propaganda organ of Kim Jong Il’s regime, would cover U.S. envoy Stephen Bosworth’s visit to Pyongyang. But aside from a one-sentence item announcing Bosworth’s arrival, they seem to have completely ignored it. "Credentials of Hungarian ambassador accepted" got more play, not to ...

By , a former associate editor at Foreign Policy.

I was curious to see how the Korean Central News Agency, the official propaganda organ of Kim Jong Il's regime, would cover U.S. envoy Stephen Bosworth's visit to Pyongyang. But aside from a one-sentence item announcing Bosworth's arrival, they seem to have completely ignored it. "Credentials of Hungarian ambassador accepted" got more play, not to mention "Potato starch used for dishes".

I was curious to see how the Korean Central News Agency, the official propaganda organ of Kim Jong Il’s regime, would cover U.S. envoy Stephen Bosworth’s visit to Pyongyang. But aside from a one-sentence item announcing Bosworth’s arrival, they seem to have completely ignored it. "Credentials of Hungarian ambassador accepted" got more play, not to mention "Potato starch used for dishes".

Not quite sure I understand the KCNA’s news judgement. If I were doing publicity for a small despotic regime, I think I would want to publicize the fact that my country’s most powerful enemy was sending a highly-ranked envoy to negotiate with us. 

Update: They’ve posted another one-sentence item: "U.S. envoy Bosworth leaves"

Joshua Keating was an associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshuakeating

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