The BBC is set to launch a Korean language news service, which will be broadcast in North Korea – despite repeated warnings from Kim Jong-Un’s regime.
North Korea has urged the BBC to back down from the “provocation” and warned of a backlash amid growing international tensions over its nuclear missile tests.
The Korean language service is one of 11 new languages set to be launched by the BBC over the next few weeks in the biggest expansion of the World Service since the 1940s.
BBC officials have admitted that a “reaction” from the North Korean regime was likely, but the British broadcasters have refused to bow to Pyongyang’s demands.
Francesca Unsworth, who heads the BBC World Service, said the North Korean embassy in London had told the BBC “in no uncertain terms” that they did not want the Korean service to be launched.
She said: “I met with the embassy here in London and they told us in no uncertain terms that they didn’t want us to launch this service.”
Despite this, Jamie Angus, who is Mrs Unsworth’s deputy, defended the move.
He denied claims that the move was political, instead insisting that the service could help “de-escalate tensions”.
Mr Angus told the BBC Newswatch: “There is an audience with a strong news need, and we can provide that free access to reliable and independent news.”
The service will broadcast a half-hour radio programme in the middle of the night so “people have the opportunity to listen under their bedclothes without telling the neighbours”.
The controversial launch comes after Donald Trump, the US president, said that North Korea was “begging for war” after a series of missile tests.
The BBC said that research revealed that young people in North Korea are not as beholden to the regime as their parents.
They added that there is an appetite for learning information not provided by the government.