North Korea says it will try detained U.S. journalists

(ATTN: UPDATES with N. Korea's English statement, N.K. law on foreigners' hostile
acts, expert's quote)
By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, April 24 (Yonhap) -- North Korea said Friday that it will put on trial two
U.S. female journalists detained in the country, announcing that its
investigation into their "crimes" has been concluded.

The American journalists -- Euna Lee and Laura Ling from San Francisco-based
Current TV, started by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore -- were arrested by
North Korean guards near its border with China on March 17.
Pyongyang said on March 31 that an investigation was under way and that it was
preparing to indict them on charges of illegally entering the country and
engaging in unspecified "hostile acts."
"A competent organ of the DPRK (North Korea) concluded the investigation into the
journalists of the United States," the official Korean Central News Agency 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," it said, without specifying the charges.
The U.S. State Department said last week that diplomatic efforts were under way
to free the Americans. The Swedish embassy in the North has been handling affairs
involving the detained journalists as Washington does not have diplomatic
relations with Pyongyang.
North Korea earlier said consular contact was allowed and that the American
reporters were being treated "according to the relevant international laws."
Tensions have sharply risen since North Korea's rocket launch on April 5, which
the U.N. Security Council swiftly condemned as violating a U.N. resolution
barring its ballistic activity.
The United States, along with South Korea and China, have warned of U.N.
sanctions against the launch, which Washington views as a test of a long-range
missile.
North Korea insisted that it successfully orbited a satellite as part of the
country's peaceful space program, a claim disputed by outside monitors who say no
such object has entered space.
Pyongyang, meanwhile, withdrew from nuclear disarmament talks and expelled
international monitors last week in protest over the U.N. action.
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 on 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."
According to North Korea's criminal law, foreigners who "infringe upon the bodies
or the properties of North Korean citizens living or temporarily staying overseas
so as to exercise their hostility toward the Korean people" can be sent to labor
camps for five to 10 years. Heavier punishments can be imposed depending on the
seriousness of the crime. Seoul officials could not say whether this stipulation
would apply to the journalists.
Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul,
said North Korea is demonstrating its intention to solve the case according to
legal precedent and that its sentencing will depend on Washington's diplomatic
efforts.
"North Korea knows it may draw international criticism if it unjustly handles the
case," Yang said. "After the trial, North Korea can decide whether to grant them
political pardon depending on the developments in its relations with the U.S."
The Americans' detention is the third since 1994, when North Korea held a U.S.
pilot whose military chopper was shot down after straying into North Korea.
Two years later, another American citizen, Evan Hunziker, was held for three
months on suspicion of spying after swimming across the Yalu River bordering
North Korea and China. Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico, then a U.S.
congressman, flew to Pyongyang to successfully negotiate his release.
A South Korean worker also remains in detention in North Korea for a fourth week
on allegations of criticizing Pyongyang's political system and trying to incite a
local female employee to defect.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)