The origins of a scoop that delighted AP clients started with a tip from one of senior Hong Kong video journalist Raf Wober’s sources in North Korea. The source said that a Swedish envoy who'd been visiting Pyongyang while an Australian was reportedly being detained there would be leaving for Beijing.

When video journalist Emily Wang rushed to the airport in Beijing, she made AP the only Western agency to get video of the envoy – and the Australian who had been released from detention. Wang not only got the video; she also landed exclusive comments to the questions she asked while filming.

Canberra correspondent Rod McGuirk handled both text and photos, and Tokyo photographer Eugene Hoshiko captured the Australian as he arrived in Tokyo to visit his wife, creating an all-formats win. Australian clients were delighted with the AP exclusive. Gaven Morris, news director at ABC, passed along his thanks and called the scoop “brilliant.”