Yonhap presents PyeongChang Winter Olympics news-sharing service.

Yonhap's President and CEO Park No-hwang with OANA
President Aslan Aslanov and host Lebanon National News Agency
(NNA) Director Laure Sleiman Saab (middle) (Photo: Yonhap)  

South Korea's Yonhap News Agency's news-sharing platform for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics has received a favourable response at a meeting of leading Asia-Pacific news agencies in Beirut. 

The news agency reported that it has presented the PyeongChang News Service Network (PNN) at the 42nd board meeting of the Organisation of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA) on Wednesday.

As the host news agency for the upcoming Winter Games, Yonhap News is developing PNN to allow news outlets around the world to share content on the international event in real time and for free. The system will be completed this month.

The Yonhap News delegation led by President and CEO Park No-hwang briefed the group of 44 news organisations from 35 countries on the current state and future plans for the extensive Internet-based news exchange programme.

During the one-day meeting, delegates from 13 board member agencies discussed the future path of news agencies in the age of digital innovation.

OANA was founded in 1961 to promote cooperation among news agencies in the Asia-Pacific region. It is currently chaired by Azerbaijan's state-run AZERTAC with Yonhap News being the vice chair agency.

Bernama is  an OANA board member and represented at the meeting by Editor-in-Chief Datuk Zakaria Abdul Wahab. 

PNN members will have access to not only Yonhap News' content in Korean, English, Chinese, Japanese, French, Arabic and Spanish languages but also that of fellow members without signing separate agreements.

The members can upload their content, including news articles in English and native languages, photos and video clips, on the platform without limitation.

Even after the Olympics, they can continue to use the platform to exchange content.

It has 33 news agencies, including the Vietnam News Agency, the Press Trust of India and the News Agency of Nigeria, as members as of this month.

The Winter Games will be held in PyeongChang, some 180 kilometres east of Seoul, and in the nearby cities of Gangneung and Jeongseon in Gangwon Province from Feb 9 to 25 next year.