U.S. urges N. Korea to free two American journalists

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, April 24 (Yonhap) -- The United States Friday urged North Korea to
release two American journalists detained for alleged illegal entry.
"We continue to call on the North Koreans to release the two Americans so they
can be returned to their families," State Department spokesman Robert Wood said.
"We'll continue to work this issue through diplomatic channels. We're trying to
work this quietly ... to do as much as we can."
Wood was responding to an announcement earlier in the day by North Korea that it
had concluded an investigation and will formally refer the journalists to trial
for "confirmed crimes."
North Korea did not elaborate, but it had previously charged the journalists with
illegal entry and "hostile acts."
Reports said that Euna Lee and Laura Ling, from Current TV, a San Francisco-based
Internet outlet, are being questioned for alleged espionage, a charge that
carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison under the North Korean criminal
code, unlike illegal entry, which is punishable by a few years' imprisonment.
Wood said that the Swedish ambassador in Pyongyang briefly visited the reporters
on March 30, but added, "You know, it's obviously very difficult trying to get
information out of the North. The Swedes are trying to get as much information as
we can."
The Swedish embassy handles consular affairs involving American citizens in North
Korea as Washington does not have diplomat relations with the reclusive communist
state.
The journalists were reportedly taken by North Korean soldiers March 17 along the
Tumen River on the Chinese border while filming the North Korean side.
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 across the border.
Another American citizen, Evan Hunziker, was held for three months in 1996 on
suspicion of spying after swimming 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 their release.
Some analysts say North Korea may try to use the reporters as a means of
establishing bilateral contact with the U.S. amid escalating tensions since its
rocket launch April 5.
North Korea has said it will abandon the six-party talks with South Korea, the
U.S., China, Japan and Russia on ending its nuclear programs in response to a
U.N. Security Council rebuke for the launch, which Pyongyang says was part of a
legitimate space program to orbit a satellite.
The multilateral negotiations have been stalled since December, when North Korea
balked at a verification protocol for its nuclear programs.
Wood called on North Korea to return to the negotiations, saying, "The six-party
framework is our best hope for getting the North to denuclearize. And we are
going to work hard to get them back to the table. But it's a challenge. There's
no question about it."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters in Seoul early Friday that
North Korea does not intend to return to the six-party talks. He just concluded a
trip to Pyongyang, where he met with North Korea's ceremonial head of state, Kim
Yong-nam, and other senior officials, but not leader Kim Jong-il.
Wood would not dismiss the possibility that Stephen Bosworth, U.S. special
representative for North Korea, would make another Asian trip soon to discuss the
six-party talks and other North Korean issues.
"I'm certainly not going to rule out future travel," he said. "Ambassador
Bosworth is very engaged in this issue. We're talking to our allies to try to see
what leverage we can bring to getting the North back to the table."
Bosworth traveled to South Korea, China and Japan last month to discuss
resumption of the six-party talks, but North Korea refused to accept him at that
time.
hdh@yna.co.kr
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