North Korea, a totalitarian country ranked near the bottom in the world on the press freedom index, presents one of the toughest challenges for journalists.
But the Associated Press made significant progress Wednesday in increasing its access within the secretive country by signing agreements with North Korea’s state news agency, KCNA, to open a bureau in the capital Pyongyang. The AP has operated a television office in North Korea for five years, but the new operation will be the “first permanent text and photo bureau operated by a Western news organization in the North Korean capital,” according to a release.