North Korea Expells BBC Reporters

BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes being led away

(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 traveling with, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Rupert Wingfield-Hayes

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.

Another BBC correspondent in Pyongyang, John Sudworth, said in a broadcast report there was "disagreement, a concern over the content of Rupert's reporting", including questioning the authenticity of a hospital.

In his report of a visit to the children's hospital in Pyongyang, Wingfield-Hayes said the patients looked "remarkably well" and there was not a real doctor on duty.

"Everything we see looks like a set-up" he said.

North Korea granted visas to an unusually large group of 128 journalists from 12 countries to coincide with the Workers' Party congress.

Their movements are closely managed and as of mid-day on Monday they had yet to get access to the proceedings of the congress, which began on Friday.

The North Korean government, which owns and operates all domestic news media organizations, maintains tight control over foreign reporters, with government "minders" accompanying visiting journalists as they report.