NEWS… BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT
Propaganda images meant to showcase the strength of North Korea’s air force may have been doctored to add in more warplanes, experts have suggested.
Pyongyang said 150 planes took part in exercises last Thursday, demonstrating ‘the might of the people’s air force’ with ‘matchless bravery and indomitable fighting spirit’.
But experts have opined that some photos from the military display, which Kim Jong Un personally oversaw, reveal additional planes which have been copied and pasted to bulk up the numbers.
Thorsten Beck, photo analysis expert at the HEADT Centre in Berlin, Germany, probed the images using clone detection software.
He said: ‘It analyses identical or similar elements in images and shows some of the similarities quite nicely. I think the assumption that, in a number of images, elements have been cloned is correct.
‘Whoever created or manipulated these pictures certainly had some command of Photoshop.
‘It does not look amateurish, but the composition, the purpose and nature of the manipulation speak a different language.
‘Partly because the images dramatise the power of North Korea’s air force, they appear somehow too good to be true and that creates a funny effect in some of the images.’
He singled out one photo of 30 warplanes, taken from above, explaining: ‘It’s worth noting here that the planes don’t change size toward the viewer, despite their different heights and distances.
‘It also looks like they all have the same sharpness – no matter how far they are away.’
Another photo, showing a variety of fighter planes against a dramatic backdrop of clouds, also piqued suspicions.
‘The image looks very artfully composed, almost too good to be true,’ Dr Beck said.
‘In clone analysis you can see which groups show similarity, and my visual analysis largely coincides with this.’
On top of all that, experts say the formations on display make no sense.
Samuel Archer, a senior military analyst with Aviation Week, said: ‘From the perspective of a military exercise the concentration and volume of aircraft makes no tactical or strategic sense.
‘It strikes me that the only real reason you’d put that many aircraft in flight that close together would be to make it appear in photos that there were far more of them than actually exist.’
Dr Beck said the charge of photo manipulation couldn’t be proved 100% due to the poor resolution, lack of side shots and absence of metadata.
The clone detection software could also make false positives, he said, adding: ‘It would not be unusual for aircraft of the same type flying in formation like this to be recognised as clones.’
But Dr Beck also scrutinised the images himself – and in many cases the software picked out the same clones as he did.
‘In summary,’ he said, ‘copied elements are likely in many of the images – even if visual analysis cannot give absolute certainty’.
The exercises took place last week over the seas near the eastern city of Wonsan.
According to state propaganda, Kim later praised the pilots and urged them to ‘discharge their sacred mission of defending the country’.
The pilots – the ones that actually exist – were said to be rapturous in their response.
It comes as North Korean state media reports that Kim oversaw the launch of two long-range strategic cruise missiles, calling it a test to confirm the reliability and operation of nuclear-capable weapons.
Wednesday’s test was aimed at ‘enhancing the combat efficiency and might’ of cruise missiles deployed to the Korean People’s Army ‘for the operation of tactical nukes’, Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) said.
Stressing the test launch was another clear warning to its ‘enemies’, Kim said the country ‘should continue to expand the operational sphere of the nuclear strategic armed forces to resolutely deter any crucial military crisis and war crisis at any time and completely take the initiative in it’.
On Monday, KCNA said Kim had guided nuclear tactical exercises targeting South Korea over the past two weeks in protest of recent joint naval drills by South Korean and US forces involving an aircraft carrier.
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Two missiles test-fired on Wednesday were said to have flown for 10.234 seconds and ‘clearly hit the target 1,240 miles away’.
A US State Department spokesperson declined to comment on the launches, and said Washington remained focused on coordinating closely with its allies and partners to address the threats posed by North Korea.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol’s office said the North’s cruise missiles do not pose a threat as they are ‘slow enough to be intercepted’.
But he added Seoul is ready to sternly respond to Pyongyang’s provocations with ‘overwhelming forces’.
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