( CNN ) -- A BBC journalist who got into North Korea by using a group of students from a top British university as camouflage is facing accusations that he recklessly endangered their safety and damaged the school 's reputation . BBC reporter John Sweeney posed as a student from the London School of Economics and Political Science , or LSE , on a visit to the secretive nation last month , during which he filmed footage for the broadcaster 's prime-time current affairs show `` Panorama . '' He traveled with his wife and a cameraman . Officials and student representatives from the LSE say Sweeney did n't fully explain the situation to the students he was traveling with in advance , saying only that `` a journalist '' would join the trip . In doing so , they say , he put the students at risk and jeopardized future visits by the school 's academics to North Korea and other politically sensitive countries . `` The students were not given enough information to enable informed consent , yet were given enough to put them in serious danger if the subterfuge had been uncovered prior to their departure from North Korea , '' the LSE said in a statement . The authoritarian North Korean regime tightly controls who enters its territory , with journalists from the international news media , including CNN , often refused entry . Authorities significantly restrict the movements of those who are allowed in . And the penalties for those who break the rules can be severe . In 2009 , two American journalists reporting from the border between North Korea and China were arrested and received heavy prison sentences . They were released later that year after former President Bill Clinton flew to North Korea and met with top officials there . The LSE students and the BBC journalists all returned safely from their trip last month , but some of the students then complained about what Sweeney had done , said Alex Peters-Day , the secretary-general of the LSE 's students union . `` I think it 's absolutely disgraceful that he put students in that position , '' she said Sunday in an interview with the BBC . `` It 's incredibly reckless . '' According to Peters-Day , the students `` were lied to , they were n't able to give their consent . '' But Sweeney and the BBC say the students on the trip were aware of the risks involved . `` All of them were told twice that a journalist was coming , '' he said in a separate interview with the BBC . `` I was that journalist , I used my own name . '' A BBC spokesman said in a statement cited by the broadcaster that `` the students were all explicitly warned about the potential risks of travelling to North Korea with the journalist as part of their group . This included a warning about the risk of arrest and detention and that they might not be allowed to return to North Korea in the future . '' Sweeney did , however , admit that he falsely claimed to be a PhD student at the LSE in his application to enter North Korea . `` We go in and we tell a lie to the North Koreans , and I believe that 's journalistically fine and proper , '' he said , acknowledging that the North Korean government is now `` very angry '' about what happened . The LSE said that the BBC journalists had used a university society to set up the controversial trip . `` This was not an official LSE trip , '' Craig Calhoun , the director of the LSE , said on his Twitter account . `` Non-students & BBC organized it , used the society to recruit some students , & passed it off . '' The Grimshaw Club , the student society of the school 's international relations department , said a former LSE student had told it about the trip , and as a result it had advertised it on its mailing list and Facebook page as an opportunity `` that may be of interest to our members . '' `` There was no institutional involvement on our part whatsoever and the trip participants were aware of that , '' the club said . As a result of the situation , the LSE said it had asked the BBC to withdraw the `` Panorama '' TV program , scheduled to be broadcast Monday , and to make a full apology -- a request the BBC has so far refused . `` LSE is fully supportive of the principle of investigative journalism in the public interest , and applauds the work of journalists in dangerous parts of the world , '' the university said . `` We can not , however , condone the use of our name , or the use of our students , as cover for such activities . '' In his interview with the BBC , Sweeney said the majority of the students who were on the trip supported the `` Panorama '' program that he and his team had produced . But Calhoun said the program `` seems to have found no new information and only shown what North Korea wants tourists to see . '' He also said that `` producers of 'Panorama ' seem not to have learned any lessons from recent BBC scandals , '' an apparent reference to the BBC 's handling of abuses police say were carried out on the corporation 's premises by the late TV presenter and radio host Jimmy Savile . That scandal has cost several top BBC officials their jobs , including former Director-General George Entwistle .
A BBC reporter posed as a student to get into North Korea . The London School of Economics said he put its students on the trip in danger . The BBC says the students were informed of the risks . But LSE officials say they were n't given enough information .