The Atlantic marked up the Korean Central News Agency photo to box hovercraft that appear to be Photoshop. (Credit: The Atlantic/KCNAvia KNS/AFP/Getty, screenshot)

Did Korean Central News Agency doctor a photo to make it look like North Korea had more hovercraft practicing in a military drill? It appears so.

The North Korean government owns and runs the Korean Central News Agency, according to Mondo Times.

The Atlantic reported March 26 that French news agency Agence France Presse retracted an image supplied to it by Korean Central News Agency in light of “evidence of  tampering.”

The image was doctored to add “at least two, possibly three hovercraft,” according to The Atlantic, because the image appears to show copy and pasting of images.  As evidence, The Atlantic cited “color mismatch, a slight halo, and soft edges” and provided a “three-step animation sequence” to support its claims of a Photoshop job.

AFP photo editor Eric Baradat added to the UK Telegraph about the agency’s use of Photoshop: “Usually a very simple examination with our software dismisses KCNA pictures but they tend to be better with Photoshop recently.”

This is the third Photoshop job out of Korean Central News Agency that iMediaEthics has covered in the past couple of years.

In 2011, Korean Central New Agency released a Photoshopped picture from Kim Jong-Il’s funeral that was doctored to remove a group of people and a camera.  The Korean Central News Agency photo provided the image to European Pressphoto Agency, which told us it was “denied entry” to the funeral. From there, the photo ended up making it to the New York Times, Reuters, Agence France Presse and others. The New York Times, Reuters and AFP all ended up retracting the photo.

And, earlier in 2011, the Associated Press issued a “kill notice” on a photo it got from Korean Central News Agency. That Photoshopped photo showed men walking through flood waters, but oddly the men’s clothes were dry.

iMediaEthics has asked the AFP for more information about its decision to retract the photo. An email has also been sent to Korean Central News Agency for comment. We will update with any responses.

Hat Tip: Gawker