BBC Correspondent Expelled from North Korea Over Reporting

Rupert Wingfield-Hayes

Reuters, 09/05 11:57 CET

By James Pearson

PYONGYANG (Reuters) – North Korea expelled a BBC journalist on Monday over his reporting, the broadcaster and a North Korean official said, as a large group of foreign media members visited the isolated country to cover a rare ruling party congress.

Rupert Wingfield-Hayes was detained on Friday as he was about to leave the country and taken away for eight hours of questioning and “made to sign a statement”, the network said.

The British reporter was on a flight for Beijing on Monday afternoon along with a BBC producer and cameraman he was travelling with, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Wingfield-Hayes had “distorted facts and realities” in his coverage, North Korean official O Ryong Il said in announcing that Wingfield-Hayes, who is based in Tokyo, was being expelled and would never be let in again.

“They were speaking very ill of the system, the leadership of the country,” O, who is secretary general of a National Peace Committee, told reporters in Pyongyang, according to a video clip published by the Associated Press. 

Click here for the full article.

Source: Euronews