BBC Props US Agenda on North Korea

Assalamu Alaikum,
Over the years BBC has improved a great deal on objective and impartial news coverage. However when it comes to reporting on Muslims or events related to war on terror the biasness appears to continue. I wrote about one instance here. As an international news network this is not acceptable from BBC because it reinforces prejudice and creates misunderstanding. This week I came across this distorted report not on Muslims but very similar to bias reporting on Muslim and Islamic issues.

I was really irked by BBC’s distorted report - Timeline: North Korea. Subtitled, “A chronology of key events,” this report is read by millions online and used as a source by journalist across the world. Apart from the disregard for journalistic objectivity by the characterization of North Korea, the report twists history and omits details to suit the American version of the story.

The BBC timelines note for 2005 September reads as, “Fourth round of six-nation talks on [North Korea’s] nuclear programme concludes. North Korea agrees to give up its weapons in return for aid and security guarantees. But it later demands a civilian nuclear reactor.” Thereafter it moves on to the next note leaving the reader with the impression of a walkout and an outrageous demand by North Korea. This is a distortion of last year’s six-nation talks.

In September 2005 talks, agreement was reached for North Korea to suspend its nuclear programme in return for economic assistance and normalization of ties with the United States. The agreement also said the United States would also supply civilian nuclear reactors if North Korea gave up its nuclear programme.

Now if the United States was really serious, they could have solved the nuclear dispute amicably at this round of talks. But what happened next compliments my post - Nuking over Iran’s Nuclear Program.

Four days after the agreement, the United States Treasury Department froze North Korean asserts and imposed financial sanctions, alleging that North Korea was involved in counterfeiting dollars and money laundering. The BBC timeline makes no mention of this important juncture, which caused North Korea to walkout.

Selig S. Harrison writes in Newsweek International - North Korea: A Nuclear Threat, “Whatever the truth, I found on a recent trip to Pyongyang that North Korean leaders view the financial sanctions as the cutting edge of a calculated effort by dominant elements in the [Bush] administration to undercut the Sept. 19 accord, squeeze the Kim Jong Il regime and eventually force its collapse. My conversations made clear that North Korea's missile tests in July and its threat last week to conduct a nuclear test explosion at an unspecified date "in the future" were directly provoked by the U.S. sanctions.”

All these facts of recent history is conveniently omitted and twisted by BBC Timeline news report, questioning its objectives and credibility.


Related Posts: ‘Cool Muslimah’ gives an account of BBC psychological manipulation during the recent Lebanon crisis in her post - happenings of this month.