The BBC has launched a Korean service aimed at informing North Korean residents of the outside world.

The British public broadcaster said the Korean service began on Tuesday with those living in the Korean Peninsula and Korean speakers around the world as its main audiences.

In the first broadcast, the BBC News Korea reported of a press conference by North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho in New York on Monday defending the regime’s rights to self-defense against the U.S.

It also aired an interview with former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in which the former South Korean foreign minister accused the North of creating the current tensions on the peninsula.

The Pyongyang government has opposed its launch via various channels as the Korean service virtually aims to reach the North Korean residents. 

The director of the BBC World Service Francesca Unsworth said the service will “build on the long-standing reputation for fairness and impartiality the BBC World Service has earned all over the world.”

An official of BBC said the Korean service will help the opening-up of the North as it played a key role in the collapse of the Eastern European bloc under the Soviet control.  

The service goes on the air on shortwave for three hours a day from midnight in Pyongyang time, and on medium wave for an hour from 1 a.m. The Korean Service is also available at its Web site(https://www.bbc.com/korean). 

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