British Broadcasting Corporation correspondent Rupert Wingfield-Hayes is being expelled from North Korea, authorities have announced at a press conference.
North Korean authorities said they took issue with “disrespectful” reports he filed from inside the country last week . He was detained at the airport and questioned but has since be released.
CNN’s Will Ripley, who is in Pyongyang for the Seventh Congress of the ruling Korean Workers’ Party, as was Wingfield-Hayes, reported the news.
The BBC confirmed the expulsion, writing “BBC correspondent Rupert Wingfield-Hayes detained in North Korea and to be expelled from country over reporting,” shortly after the news of the press conference broke.
One such report, which he filed from within the country on a group of Nobel Laureates, had the following line:
“What exactly he’s done to deserve the title Marshal is hard to say. On state TV the young ruler seems to spend a lot of time sitting in a large chair watching artillery firing at mountainsides.”
The BBC is working to get him out of the country. He will never be allowed back into the reclusive state, North Korean authorities said.
The congress is the first in the country for 36 years. Friday saw around 3,000 party members and more than 100 international media outlets pour in for this once-in-a-generation political gathering, officials told CNN.
Developing story – more to come
