Past Tense or Present Tense? How to choose?

[Fimmaker]

I am confused with the use of tenses in the following situations:

1. "The U.S. has at long last started to look seriously at its trade interests in the Pacific," says Kwon Byong Hyog, ...........

2. "We will not modify our position," Hosokawa warned afterward. "It's just not acceptable for the U.S. to continue on the same path," Clinton warned back last week....

The second case uses past tense as the words was put in in the past...
What about the first case? The statement was made in the past; so, is it appropriate to replace "says" by "said" ?? Or either one is acceptable?!

[Mister Micawber]

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Yes, news articles and other texts sometimes cast the reporting clause ('he says', 'she explains') in present tense, because it makes the item more immediate for the readers. It is as if the readers are 'hearing' the speaker as they read the article.

It is a form of 'narrative present'.
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Native English teacher at Mister Micawber's