BBC journalist expelled from North Korea
BBC's Tokyo correspondent and two other journalist have been expelled from North Korea after being detained for three days in the capital Pyongyang over their reporting.
Rupert Wingfield-Hayes, producer Maria Byrne and cameraman Matthew Goddard were held as they were about to leave the authoritarian country.
Wingfield-Hayes was questioned for eight hours by North Korean officials and made to sign a statement.
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The journalist was expelled for "his attacking of the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of North Korea] and non-objective reporting during the filming crew's stay," China's official Xinhua news agency said quoting a press conference from North Korea's national peace committee.
Byrne took to Twitter to let the world know that the team is safe, but that they were not answering questions at the moment.
She also noted that another BBC team remains in North Korea.
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The correspondent was banned from entering DPRK again, the official added.
The BBC staff were reportedly escorted to Pyongyang airport and were expected to fly to Beijing, the Guardian reported.
The team was in North Korea ahead of the Workers Party Congress, accompanying a delegation of Nobel prize laureates conducting a research trip.
The North Korea leadership was reportedly furious about Wingfield-Hayes' coverage of a visit to a children's hospital in the capital.
During the broadcast, the correspondent said the patients at the hospital looked "remarkably well, and there isn't a real doctor in sight," adding: "everything we see looks like a set-up".
Many western journalist are in North Korea to cover the Workers' Party Congress, a major political event in the country that has been billed as "once in a lifetime."
North Korea has not held such an event in the past 40 years, and it will be the first under the leadership of Kim Jong-un.
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