This combined photo shows footage of North Korea blowing up part of the Donghae Line road near the inter-Korean border, Tuesday. On the left is footage provided by the North's official Korean Central News Agency, Thursday, and the photo on the right was released by South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff on the day of the explosion. Yonhap
North Korea's accusation of unlawful use of its photos by South Korean media is "groundless," the military said Friday, reiterating that it is, in fact, the North that recently used the South's photos without authorization.
"The fact that Kim Yo-jong is addressing even such trivial issues suggests that North Korea's system is not functioning properly. Her false statements may be an attempt to cover for the military's failure to photograph the road explosions," a Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) official said during a closed-door briefing.
Earlier in the day, Kim, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, issued a statement through the North's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), refuting claims that the regime had used photos from South Korea's JCS in reports published earlier this week.
"I want to inform those idiots that the photo is a screenshot from one of the video clips released by NBC, Fox News, Reuters, and other foreign media," Kim said in the statement.
"We couldn't have taken a photo from that angle, so we used it because it fit our needs, with good visual quality and excellent composition. Is that problematic?" she added.
Her statement followed speculation raised by the South Korean military that the North had used unauthorized footage from the JCS in KCNA's reports on Pyongyang's recent demolition of roads on the Donghae and Gyeongui railway lines near the border.
One of the three photos released by KCNA on Thursday resembled footage captured by South Korean military surveillance equipment. The JCS said it is considering the possibility that North Korea used the footage released by the military without authorization.
Although Kim claimed that KCNA used images from NBC, Fox News, and Reuters, those media outlets had sourced the images from the JCS. In other words, Kim's statement has virtually confirmed that North Korea used photos originally taken by the South Korean military.
Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un, arrives at the Vostochny Cosmodrome, Russia, for a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the North Korean leader, Sept. 13. Reuters-Yonhap
Kim also accused South Korean media outlets of frequently using images and video clips released by North Korea in their reports, calling it a "double standard" to raise such accustations toward Pyongyang.
In response, the JCS official said, "North Korea may have mentioned our media because they are unaware that South Korean outlets legally use KCNA photos. This suggests their internal reporting system isn't functioning properly."
According to the Ministry of Unification, South Korean media outlets legally use photos provided by KCNA by paying copyright fees through a Japanese intermediary.
In a briefing, also on Friday, the ministry's deputy spokesperson Kim In-ae dismissed North Korea's claims on South Korean media's copyright infringement as "groundless."
She urged the regime to act responsibly under the Berne Convention, an international copyright agreement established in 1886.
The latest development comes as inter-Korean tensions have reached their highest level in years, with the North pushing a "two-state system" that defines the two Koreas as hostile nations. The reclusive regime blew up parts of roads near the inter-Korean border, Tuesday, signaling its intent to sever ties with South Korea.