The top diplomat in Pyongyang 's Swedish embassy met with two detained American journalists Friday on behalf of the U.S. that doesn't have an official diplomatic channel with North Korea , Yonhap News Agency reported Saturday.
The new development, the first such contact in six weeks, came one day after Pyongyang announced a June 4 trial date for the two journalists, Euna Lee and Laura Ling, who are Americans with Asian heritage.
"The Swedish Ambassador to North Korea, acting as the United States ' protecting power, met with each of the two detained American citizen journalists on May 15," Yonhap reported citing State Department spokesman Ian Kelly.
It's the second consular access to the pair by Ambassador Mats Foyer since March 30 when the envoy met them for the first time.
Kelly did not elaborate on the health or any other information on the journalists who were detained near the Chinese border with North Korea on March 17 when they were reportedly filming the North Korean side for their news coverage of North Korean refugees.
North Korea said Thursday that the reporters will be put to trial on June 4 on charges of illegal entry and unspecified "hostile acts."
They will face up to 10 years in prison if convicted of espionage under the North Korean criminal code, unlike illegal entry, which is punishable by a few years' imprisonment.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Thursday called on North Korea to immediately release the two American journalists, hoping the North's decision to try them next month signaled their early release.
"We believe that the charges are baseless and should not have been brought, and that these two young women should be released immediately," Clinton said.
"The trial date being set we view as a welcome time frame. But the fact that they are now going to have some process we believe is a signal that there can be, and I hope will be, a resolution as soon as possible," she said.
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