North Korea to Try US Journalists June 4
By Kim Sue-young
Staff Reporter
North Korea will put two U.S. journalists, arrested for alleged illegal border crossing and hostile acts, on trial on June 4, its official news agency reported Thursday.
North Korea watchers said that Pyongyang would likely follow a similar process of trial, conviction and release which Iran took when releasing a U.S. journalist.
``The Central Court of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) decided to try the American journalists on June 4 according to the indictment of the competent organ,'' the Korean Central News Agency said. DPRK is the North's official name.
It did not elaborate on the condition and charges of the two female reporters, Korean-American Euna Lee and Chinese-American Laura Ling, from San Francisco-based Current TV.
They were arrested by the North on March 17, when they were filming the life of North Koreans near border areas on the country's border with China.
The North Korean authorities claimed that they will have the two women stand trial for illegal trespassing ― despite warnings from border guards ― and ``hostile acts."
Under the North Korean law, a person convicted of hostile acts against the state can be sentenced to up to 10 years in labor camps while illegal trespassers can face up to three years in the camps.
Mats Foyer, Swedish ambassador to Pyongyang, met with Lee and Ling shortly after the arrest, but since then the North has refused to grant any meeting.
``I am unaware of any kind of reasons that have been given to us as to why they are denying consular access, which, of course, is contrary to the Vienna Convention,'' State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said Monday.
Larry A. Niksch, a specialist in Asian affairs with the U.S. Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress, said a similar scenario to the release of a U.S. detained journalist in Iran is expected.
He was quoted as saying by Radio Free Asia that North Korea would first make Lee and Ling plea guilty in a trial and then release them.
Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi was sentenced to eight years for a spying charge in Iran. She later saw the sentence reduced to a two-year suspended term but she was finally set free on Monday thanks to mounting calls for the release from international society.