THE Associated Press has opened its newest bureau in Pyongyang, becoming the first international news organization with a full-time presence to cover news from North Korea in words, pictures and video.

    In a ceremony Monday that came less than a month after the death of longtime leader Kim Jong Il and capped nearly a year of discussions, AP President and CEO Tom Curley and a delegation of top AP editors inaugurated the office, situated inside the headquarters of the state-run Korean Central News Agency in downtown Pyongyang.

    The bureau expands the AP’s presence in North Korea, building on the breakthrough in 2006 when AP opened a video bureau in Pyongyang for the first time by an international news organization. Exclusive video from AP video staffers in Pyongyang was used by media outlets around the world following Kim’s death.

    Now, AP writers and photojournalists will also be allowed to work in North Korea on a regular basis.

    For North Korea, which for decades has remained largely off-limits to international journalists, the opening marked an important gesture, particularly because North Korea and the United States have never had formal diplomatic relations.

    The bureau puts AP in a position to document the people, places and politics of North Korea across all media platforms at a critical moment in its history, with Kim’s death and the ascension of his young son as the country’s new leader, Curley said in remarks prepared for the opening.

    Curley said the Pyongyang bureau will operate under the same standards and practices as AP bureaus worldwide.

    The AP bureau will be staffed by reporter Pak Won Il and photographer Kim Kwang Hyon, both natives of North Korea who have done some reporting for AP in recent weeks on Kim’s funeral. <2001>(SD-Agencies)