Hyung-jin Kim, Adam Schreck, Tong-hyung Kim, Jin-man Lee, Yong-ho Kim and Yong Jun Chang carried out an exclusive AP interview with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, which broke news during heightened tensions.
The Seoul bureau had been pressing South Korean officials for months for an all-formats interview with Yoon, something usually reserved for local media outlets. That persistence paid off. During the interview, Yoon described proposed plans with the U.S. that include tabletop exercises, computer simulations and drills involving delivery of nuclear weapons. He reiterated his call for closer security cooperation with the United States and Japan to counter the “dangerous situation” being created by North Korea.
Most of South Korea’s major news organizations picked up AP’s interview, and it was a topic in their own stories. The print story by Asia news director Adam Schreck, Seoul correspondent Hyung-jin Kim and reporter Kim Tong-hyung was used around the world. Photos by Jin-man Lee also were widely used, including a huge, four-column spread in the nation’s largest newspaper. Major Korean and foreign clients also used the AP video by video journalists Yong-ho Kim and Yong Jun Chang.