Image copyright AFP Image caption A view of Pyongyang - a key focus of the service is North Korea...

The BBC has launched a Korean service as part of an expansion of its foreign language outlets.

The service, which began broadcasts on Tuesday, will provide news, sport, business and culture through a website and radio transmissions.

A key focus of the service is North Korea, where government censorship restricts access to independent news.

Korean is one of 12 new BBC language services funded by a £291m ($400m) grant from the British government.

The director of the BBC World Service, Francesca Unsworth, said: "BBC News Korean will build on the long-standing reputation for fairness and impartiality the BBC World Service has earned all over the world.

The service will be aimed at audiences in the Korean peninsula and Korean speakers around the world.

The service's journalists will be based in Seoul, London and Washington and will draw on the full extent of the BBC's global network of correspondents.

The BBC World Service is currently launching in 12 new languages - Afaan Oromo, Amharic, Gujarati, Igbo, Korean, Marathi, Pidgin, Punjabi, Serbian, Telugu, Tigrinya and Yoruba.