Reporters in N. Korea for congress get wire factory instead

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — They came for North Korea's biggest political event in decades. What they have been getting is a lot of sightseeing — except for at least one who got kicked out.

North Korea has brought in more than 100 journalists f-rom around the world to make sure that the 7th Congress of its ruling Workers' Party gets global attention. But four days into the event, which is being held in an ornate hall called the April 25 House of Culture, only the trusted state-run media has been allowed inside and — other than their reports — virtually no information is being made available on what is actually going on.

While all the important decisions and newsworthy declarations were being made by leader Kim Jong Un and the more than 3,400 delegates at the meeting — representing the country's political elite — officials have dutifully kept the foreign media busy with trips around the showcase capital to show them the places it most wants them to see — a maternity hospital with seemingly state-of-the-art equipment, a wire-making factory whe-re managers say salaries and production are both going up, the humble birthplace of national founder Kim Il Sung, which has been converted into a sort of museum-park with a large "funfair" right next door.

On Monday, it expelled BBC journalist Rupert Wingfield-Hayes for "insulting the dignity" of the country. O Ryong Il, secretary-general of the North's National Peace Committee, said the journalist's news coverage distorted facts and "spoke ill of the system and the leadership of the country." He said Wingfield-Hayes wrote an apology and would never be admitted into the country again.

Wingfield-Hayes was not among the media covering the congress; he and his team had covered an earlier trip of Nobel laureates and had been scheduled to leave Friday. Instead, he was stopped at the airport, detained and questioned. The BBC said Wingfield-Hayes' producer Maria Byrne and cameraman Matthew Goddard were also detained Friday and taken to the Pyongyang airport Monday.

For anyone familiar with North Korea, this all comes as no surprise. Information and access are precious commodities here. And keeping them under tight control is one of North Korea's greatest skills.

Instead of covering votes and speeches, reporters have been taken on the subway and given a ride on the newest train, which North Korean officials claim to have developed themselves. They've been shown a farm, and have been taken around an apartment in a new complex of high-rises, government offices and shops on Scientists' Street.