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		</div><p><a href="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/koreans-shown-bend-it-like-beckham.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full" title="'Bend it Like Beckham" starring Keira Knightley and Parminder Nagra aired in North Korea" src="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/min-koreans-shown-bend-it-like-beckham.jpg" alt="'Bend it Like Beckham" starring Keira Knightley and Parminder Nagra aired in North Korea"/></a></p>
<p>North Koreans have been given a rare treat this week: a state television broadcast of the UK football film Bend it Like Beckham.</p>
<p>The 2002 film starring Keira Knightley, Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Parminder Nagra aired on December 26 &#8211; a break from the regular programming of news, documentaries and soap operas in North Korea, where Western films are largely off limits.</p>
<p>&#8220;This was the first Western film to be broadcast on North Korean TV, and as well as football, it covered issues such as multiculturalism, equality and tolerance,&#8221; British Ambassador Peter Hughes said from Pyongyang, where his embassy helped arranged the Boxing Day broadcast.</p>
<p>Football is extremely popular in North Korea, which sent its men to the World Cup in South Africa in 2010 and whose women&#8217;s team is a regional powerhouse.</p>
<p>Britain has been seeking to reach out to North Koreans through football, a sport that has connected the two nations since North Korea first sent a team to the World Cup in England in 1966.</p>
<p>Earlier this year, the Middlesbrough Ladies Football Team travelled to Pyongyang to play North Korean clubs.</p>
<p>Hughes said: &#8220;The UK advocates a policy of engagement with North Korea because not engaging means not having any influence, and because engagement has the potential to catalyse change.&#8221;</p>
<p>Bend it Like Beckham, directed by Gurinder Chadha, tells the story of a British Asian teenager struggling with family pressures and cultural expectations as she plays the sport she loves and works to fulfil her dream of competing in the United States.</p>
<p>The film that aired appeared to be an edited version.</p>
<p>Hughes said: &#8220;Apparently the people were amazed that a Western film was shown, and there has been a buzz around the country as the people have talked about the film and its content.&#8221;</p>
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