SEOUL, Sept. 8 (UPI) -- The BBC said it has plans to broadcast a daily news program into North Korea, but the proposal faces major obstacles, according to analysts.
Tony Hall, the BBC's director general, said Monday the British news service intends to launch new programs for Russia, North Korea, Eritrea and Ethiopia, but an unidentified BBC source told NK News/The Guardian that the funding has yet to be finalized.
"There are two main obstacles to overcome for a BBC Korean service to be established: funding and political will," said Michael Glendinning, co-director of the European Alliance for Human Rights in North Korea in London.
Glendinning said cuts in the government budget and a lack of political will make it unlikely for the BBC to be able to source funding from public money.
"It would cost, give or take, in the region of [$1.5 million] a year to run a service," Glendinning said.
The government would never fund the service, however, unless significant shifts take place in British foreign policy, Bloomberg reported.
"It's a clever move and will earn political brownie points, but it won't happen without government money. The North Korean government would be furious," said Aidan Foster-Carter, a senior research fellow specializing in North and South Korea at Leeds University.
Britain has taking a "critical engagement" approach to its relations with North Korea since it established ties with Pyongyang in 2000. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has been using "soft power" projects in North Korea, screening films and providing English-language lessons to prescreened North Koreans, while other envoys have pressed for North Korea to address its human rights record and nuclear weapons program.
If the BBC does begin a North Korea service, it would be in the form of a shortwave radio daily news service, but Glendinning said, "It's not clear how much reach this would have because of the use of radio signal jammers."
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