Diplomacy at Work to Free US Journalists

Amid rising concerns that North Korea is seeking to capitalize on the case of two U.S. journalists detained in North Korea for illegal entry, the U.S. State Department said Friday that a vigorous diplomatic work is under way to free the pair, Yonhap reported Saturday.

"They are still there," State Department spokesman Robert Wood said. "We're working through a number of different diplomatic channels to try to see what we can do to get these folks released."

It has been a month since the two American journalists, who were near the border area to film the situation of human trafficking of North Korean females, became captives by the border patrol and sent to Pyongyang.

Some analysts say North Korea aims to contact the U.S. bilaterally rather than through the six-party talks amid escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula as a result of North Korea's rocket launch last week. Talks on the journalists' release could conceivably broaden to include nuclear and missile issues.

Stephen Bosworth, U.S. special representative for North Korea, has yet to make contact with the North, but has been working to restart the talks, the State Department’s spokesperson said.

The reporters, Euna Lee and Laura Ling, from Current TV, a San Francisco-based cable outlet, were taken by North Korean soldiers on March 17 along the Tumen River on the Chinese border while filming the North Korean side.

North Korea has said that it will try the two journalists for illegal entry and hostile acts, without elaborating.