Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the British Council on restarting its English language teaching programme in North Korea; and whether they intend to provide funding to restart that programme.
The British Council English Language Training Programme was suspended in August 2017 when the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) changed its Travel Advice for North Korea to advise against all but essential travel. Over its lifetime the programme provided training to hundreds of teachers and tuition to 4,500 students, exposing North Korean teachers and students to alternative views of the outside world. There have been no substantive discussions between the FCO and British Council on restarting the programme.