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NKorea jails US journalists for 12 years
Seoul (AFP) June 8, 2009 North Korea sentenced two female US journalists to 12 years in a labour camp Monday for illegal entry and an unspecified "grave crime," further fuelling tensions with Washington after testing a nuclear bomb. US President Barack Obama was "deeply concerned" about the sentences handed down to Laura Ling and Euna Lee, and his government was using "all possible channels" to obtain their release, the White House said. A five-day trial "confirmed the grave crime they committed against the Korean nation and their illegal border crossing," the official Korean Central News Agency said, without explaining the crime. The Central Court "sentenced each of them to 12 years of reform through labour." Border guards detained the TV reporters on March 17 along the frontier with China while they were researching a story about refugees fleeing the North. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the United States viewed the issue as "a humanitarian matter" and that she hoped "the North Koreans will grant clemency and deport them". Clinton had said Sunday that Washington was considering putting Pyongyang back on its terrorism blacklist following its recent nuclear and missile tests. The North has been showing an increasingly uncompromising face to the world since it fired a long-range rocket on April 5. After the United Nations Security Council punished the launch by tightening sanctions, the North responded on May 25 with its second nuclear test. It has also renounced the armistice on the Korean peninsula and is said to be preparing to test medium-range missiles and a long-range Taepodong-2. Pyongyang on Monday vowed to retaliate if the Council adopts a resolution punishing the atomic test. The White House however said it hoped that the detention of the journalists would not be "linked to other issues." "Their detainment is not something that we've linked to other issues and we hope the North Koreans don't do that either," said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, adding "these women are innocent and should be released". Yet analysts say the women will become pawns in North Korea's efforts to open direct negotiations with the United States. The sentences "are tougher than expected," said Yoo Ho-Yeol, a North Korea expert at Korea University, adding that they show "the North's strategy to bring the United States to the bilateral negotiating table." Cheong Seong-Chang of Seoul's Sejong Institute think-tank said North Korea will consider releasing the pair "if Washington accepts Pyongyang's demand for (direct) talks." Pyongyang has in the past freed captured Americans but only after personal interventions. The US State Department last week did not rule out a mission by former vice president Al Gore. Gore is chairman of the California station Current TV which employs the two journalists, both aged in their thirties. Both are married and Lee has a four-year-old daughter. New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, a former US ambassador to the United Nations who has negotiated with North Korea, said he had been contacted by the Obama administration for advice on the case. He added it was too early to talk of sending an envoy to the region. Media freedom group Reporters Without Borders said it was "appalled" by the sentences and called on Pyongyang to reverse the decision. Friends, family and colleagues held candlelight vigils for the women in US cities last week. Their relatives have appealed for clemency and urged the two governments not to link the case to the nuclear standoff. The North on May 26 allowed them to phone their families in the United States. "We had not heard their voices in over two and a half months," said Ling's sister Lisa. "They are very scared -- they're very, very scared." Convicts sentenced to "reform through labour" are typically subject to hard work at farms, mines, construction sites or factories, Cho Myung-Chul, a former defector and now an analyst, told Yonhap news agency. The North's actions in the past two months have been "extraordinarily provocative," Obama said Saturday during a visit to France. "And, in fact, we are not intending to continue a policy of rewarding provocation," he added. Since March 30 the North is also holding a South Korean employee of the Kaesong joint industrial estate just north of the border.
earlier related report Clinton, like others in President Barack Obama's administration, also urged North Korea to treat the women's case as separate from the international showdown over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons test last month. "We view these as entirely separate matters," Clinton told reporters after a North Korean court sentenced journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee to 12 years in a labor camp for an illegal border crossing and an unspecified "grave crime." "We think the imprisonment trial and sentencing of Laura and Euna should be viewed as a humanitarian matter. We hope that the North Koreans will grant clemency and deport them," Clinton added. The chief US diplomat, speaking during a meeting with Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda, called for their "immediate release on humanitarian grounds," but did not explain why they should be freed on those grounds. Ling and Lee were detained by North Korean border guards on March 17 along the frozen Tumen River, which marks the North's border with China, while researching a story on refugees fleeing the hardline communist state. The pair, both aged in their 30s, were on reporting assignment for San Francisco-based Current TV, a company co-founded by former vice president Al Gore. The administration may be contemplating trouble-shooting roles for Gore and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson as Clinton said "we are engaged in all possible ways through every possible channel to secure their release." The State Department last week did not rule out possible intervention by Gore. Richardson, a former US ambassador to the United Nations who in the past negotiated the release of Americans in North Korea, said the administration had contacted him for advice in the case. He also said he had spoken to the women's families. Interviewed on NBC's Today Show, Richardson predicted the political negotiations for their release would now begin in what he called a "high stakes poker game." But he said that any talk of a US envoy for the case was "premature" because a framework for negotiations on a potential humanitarian release had to first be established. "What we would try to seek would be some kind of a political pardon, some kind of a respite from the legal proceedings," Richardson said. In 1996, then-US congressman Richardson negotiated the release of Evan Hunziker, who had been detained for three months on suspicion of spying after swimming the Yalu border river. In 1994, Richardson also negotiated the release of the surviving pilot of a US Army helicopter downed in North Korea, along with the body of his dead co-pilot. He said it is "good news" that Pyongyang had not charged the two women with espionage and that it seems to separate their cases from political differences with Washington. Washington and Pyongyang have been at loggerheads over North Korea's nuclear test on May 25 and Clinton warned Sunday that it might place the reclusive regime back on the US list of state sponsors of terror, which could mean more financial sanctions for the North. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said: "Their detainment is not something that we've linked to other issues and we hope the North Koreans don't do that either."
earlier related report The new US administration appeared to be contemplating trouble-shooting roles for high-profile politicians, as the White House said President Barack Obama is using "all possible channels" to win their freedom. The State Department last week also did not rule out possible intervention by former vice president Al Gore, the chairman of Current TV, the California station that employs the journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee. New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, a former US ambassador to the United Nations who in the past negotiated the release of Americans in North Korea, said he had been contacted by the administration for advice in the case. Richardson predicted the political negotiations would now begin in what he called a "high stakes poker game" for their release, but he added it was too early to talk of sending an envoy to the region. The White House however said it hoped that the release of the journalists would not be linked to other issues. "Their detainment is not something that we've linked to other issues and we hope the North Koreans don't do that either," said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs. "I think this is a humanitarian issue and these women are innocent and should be released," he said. US officials told AFP that Sweden has confirmed with the North Korean foreign ministry that Ling and Lee were found guilty of committing a "grave crime" against North Korea and of illegally entering the country. Sweden acts on behalf of US interests in Pyongyang in the absence of a US diplomatic mission there. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly called for their release. "We think that the government in North Korea should release them on humanitarian grounds," Kelly told reporters. "The whole judicial process ... has played out now, and we think it's time for them to be released just on pure humanitarian grounds," he said without elaborating on what the grounds were. Ling and Lee were detained by North Korean border guards on March 17 along the frozen Tumen River, which marks the North's border with China, while researching a story on refugees fleeing the hardline communist state. The pair, both aged in their 30s, were on reporting assignment for San Francisco-based Current TV, a company co-founded by Gore. Interviewed on NBC's Today Show, Richardson said he had spoken with the families of Ling and Lee but did not give details of the conversation. Richardson said the administration had contacted him for advice but that any talk of a US envoy for the case was "premature" because a framework for negotiations on a potential humanitarian release had to first be established. "What we would try to seek would be some kind of a political pardon, some kind of a respite from the legal proceedings," Richardson said. In 1996, then-US congressman Richardson negotiated the release of Evan Hunziker, who had been detained for three months on suspicion of spying after swimming the Yalu border river. In 1994, Richardson also negotiated the release of the surviving pilot of a US Army helicopter downed in North Korea, along with the body of his dead co-pilot. He said it is "good news" that Pyongyang had not charged the two women with espionage and that it seems to separate their cases from political differences with Washington. Washington and Pyongyang have been at loggerheads over North Korea's nuclear test on May 25 and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Sunday that it might place the reclusive regime back on the US list of state sponsors of terror, which could translate to more financial sanctions for the North. But Clinton told ABC television that the US government has made clear that the case of the women is a humanitarian issue. She reiterated that the charges against the pair were baseless and they should be allowed to return home. Both detainees are married and Lee has a four-year-old daughter. Share This Article With Planet Earth
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History of North Korea's previous releases of US citizensSeoul (AFP) June 8, 2009 Two female journalists jailed in North Korea Monday could be freed after a political deal with Washington, analysts said, in line with earlier releases of US citizens following high-level intervention. Laura Ling and Euna Lee were sentenced to 12 years in a labour camp for an illegal border crossing and an unspecified "grave crime." They were detained by North Korean border guards on ... read more |
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