N. Korea to Put 2 US Journalists on Trial
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
North Korea said Friday that two detained U.S. journalists will stand trial, announcing that its investigation into their ``crimes'' had been concluded.
Euna Lee, a Korean-American, and Laura Ling, a Chinese-American, who work for Current TV, were detained by the North on March 17. Pyongyang says the two women illegally crossed the border from China.
North Korea watchers say they could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted of espionage.
``A competent organ of the DPRK concluded the investigation into the journalists from the United States,'' the North's Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) said in a two-sentence report. ``The organ formally decided to refer them to a trial on the basis of the confirmed crimes committed by them.'' The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) is the communist state's official name.
On March 31, Pyongyang said it was preparing to indict them on charges of illegally entering the country and engaging in ``hostile acts.''
Professor Yang Moo-jin of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, said the two were expected to remain detained until Washington and Pyongyang strike a political deal, according to AFP.
The North Korean move comes amid growing tension on the Korean Peninsula following the North's launch of a long-range rocket, April 5.
The United States, South Korea and other allies have called for tougher sanctions on North Korea, while the North has vowed to quit the six-party denuclearization talks and reassemble its plutonium-producing reactor in Yongbyon.
Earlier this week, Pyongyang expelled nuclear monitors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Reports said a Swedish diplomat based in North Korea had met with the two journalists, being held in the capital, on Washington's behalf.
Analysts say North Korea is likely to use their trial as political leverage against U.S. President Barack Obama's administration.
North Korea has also detained a South Korean worker in a joint industrial complex in its border city of Gaeseong for almost a month for allegedly denouncing the North Korean regime.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton criticized North Korea for its coercive acts and urged it return to the disarmament talks also involving South Korea, China, Japan and Russia.
``We have made it clear that we are prepared to resume the six-party talks,'' Clinton told a congressional hearing Wednesday. ``The Chinese and Russians, the Japanese and South Koreans have equally made that clear. As you know very well, the North Koreans have not demonstrated any willingness to resume the six-party process.''