BBC plans new North Korea radio news service

BBC World Service channel would counter Pyongyang regime propaganda - but
could cause run-ins with Kim Jong-un

Here is the news... A new BBC channel could counter Kim Jong-un's own broadcasts Photo: Xinhua/Rex
Features

By Colin Freeman, Chief foreign correspondent

4:07PM GMT 11 Mar 2015

The BBC is planning a new North Korea service to give the totalitarian states 25 million
people an alternative to Kim Jong-uns propaganda.
In a move that could plunge the corporation into confrontation with the North Korean
dictator, the World Service is examining how to set up a special news channel that will get
around Pyongyangs ban on foreign media broadcasts.
The plan has echoes of Western broadcasts into the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact
countries during the Cold War, when the BBC, Radio Free Europe and Voice of America
all broadcasted to listeners behind the Iron Curtain.
However, it is likely to spark fury from Pyongyangs volatile leadership, and could lead to
the British embassy in Pyongyang being targeted for protests or being shut down
altogether.

It could also put Britain in the firing line for North Korean-led cyberattacks, such as the
one that targeted Sony Pictures last year over its film The Interview, which lampooned
Kim Jong-un.

Such is the sensitivity around the issue that the BBC had previously ruled out a North
Korea service, saying a year ago that it did not believe it would be cost effective and
viable.
A number of senior figures within the Foreign Office were understood to have objected to
the proposal, fearing that Britains ambassador to Pyongyang could be constantly hauled in
for dressing downs by his North Korean hosts.
But pressure in Parliament and the Lords, combined with growing international concern at
the extent of Pyongyangs human rights abuses, is understood to have led to a recent change
of heart at the BBC.

A BBC spokesman told The Telegraph: One of the World Services key principles is to
serve audiences in countries lacking media freedom. We are considering if we can develop
a viable news service for the people of North Korea, although there are significant barriers,
such as the lack of internet access and the strict controls on what people are allowed to
watch or listen to.
A number of foreign broadcasters already target North Korea, including South Koreas
KBS and the US-funded Voice of America and Radio Free Asia.
The BBC could be an influential addition to that list, as the UK is historically regarded by
North Korea as a more impartial nation than America and South Korea, neither of which
have diplomatic missions to Pyongyang.
The UK mission to Pyongyang opened in 2001, and is one of the few Western embassies
present there. While the start of a BBC North Korea service could compromise the
embassys position, supporters of the plan point out that western ambassadors to
Pyongyang get virtually no access to the regimes inner circle anyway, and so there would
be only a limited loss.
Any BBC service to North Korea would probably be broadcast in Korean rather than in
English, and also cover South Korea as well.

It would most likely rely on shortwave radio as ordinary North Koreans are unable to
access the internet or satellite television. Many buy cheap hand-held miniature radios
smuggled in from China, which are easily hidden and can last for several months on one set
of batteries. Pyongywang would also try to jam the signal.
The BBC World Service has been cutting foreign language services in recent years due to
ongoing budget reductions. However, many MPs believe that it can act as an important
source of so-called soft power, especially in countries where democracy has not taken
root.
Previous champions of BBC overseas broadcasts include the Burmese opposition
politician, Aung San Suu Kyi, who listened to them while placed under house arrest by the
countrys military junta, and the late Nelson Mandela, who listened to them while in jail in
South Africa.

Lifeline - Aung San Suu Kyi listened to the BBC while under house arrest in Burma

A BBC source told The Telegraph that plans for the service were still at an early stage, and
that it could be several years before any service was up and running.
However, Lord Alton of Liverpool, who chairs Britains All-Party Parliamentary Group on
North Korea, said: This is a welcome step in the right direction. The proposal has been
welcomed by many who have escaped from North Korea and will enjoy widespread
parliamentary support. I hope the BBC will now make it happen and that the FCO will put no
barriers in their way.

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