Swedish diplomats asked to contact American journalists detained in N. Korea: State Dept.

By Hwang Doo-hyong

WASHINGTON, March 24 (Yonhap) -- The United States has asked the Swedish embassy in Pyongyang to contact two American journalists detained by North Korean soldiers on the Chinese border with North Korea last week, the State Department said Tuesday.

"We have formally requested through our protecting power in Pyongyang, the
Swedish Embassy, that the Swedish government be provided with consular access to
these two Americans," spokesman Robert Wood said. "The North has assured us that
the detainees will be well treated."
The Swedish embassy in Pyongyang handles consular affairs involving American
citizens as the U.S. does not have diplomatic relations with the reclusive
communist state.
The reporters from Current TV, a San Francisco-based Internet outlet, were taken
by North Korean soldiers along the Tumen River on the Chinese border while
filming the North Korean side.
"Well, obviously Swedish diplomats," Wood said. "They are a protecting power. We
don't have a presence in Pyongyang, you know, a bilateral presence. So that's
where we are."
The spokesman would not go further due to sensitivity of the issue involving
Pyongyang, with which Washington does not have diplomatic ties and Beijing,
Pyongyang's staunchest communist ally.
Reports said North Korea has been interrogating the American journalists for
alleged espionage.
Wood said he has seen the reports and is aware of the charges, but would not
elaborate.
"I'd like to keep to what I said yesterday, that I really don't want to go into
much more detail, because we're trying to work this issue diplomatically and the
less said from here, the better," he said.
"I think it's just best right now, in terms of our interest in trying to, you
know, make sure that we can get these people released," he said.
He was not sure if the U.S. can get the release of the detained journalists soon.
"It's hard to say, in dealing with the North, whether we can be optimistic or
not," he said. "We're trying to work this diplomatically, because it's a very
sensitive issue."
The spokesman, meanwhile, urged the North to come back to six-party talks on
ending its nuclear ambitions and to refrain from launching a rocket either for a
missile or satellite.
"We've said over and again that any missile launch by the North would be -- we
would view it as provocative, unhelpful," he said. "We want to see the North
focus on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, as it has dedicated itself to
doing. This type of rhetoric isn't helpful and in fact can be counterproductive."
The detention of the journalists came at a time when tensions have mounted on the
Korean Peninsula after North Korea's announcement to launch a rocket in early
April to orbit a satellite, which the U.S. sees as a cover for a ballistic
missile launch.
The detention is the third of its kind since 1994, when North Korea detained a
U.S. pilot whose military chopper was shot down after straying into North Korea.
Two years later, another American citizen, Evan Hunziker, were held for three
months on suspicion of spying after swimming in the Yalu River bordering North
Korea and China.
Then-U.S. congressman Bill Richardson flew to Pyongyang to successfully negotiate
their release.
Richardson, a former U.N. ambassador, is now governor of New Mexico.