N. Korea airs rare report on sentencing of U.S. journalist in Iran

SEOUL, April 25 (Yonhap) -- North Korea belatedly broadcast a report Saturday on
the sentencing of a U.S. journalist convicted of espionage in Iran, one day after
it said it will try two American journalists being held in the North on similar
charges.
It was the first time the reclusive North reported on the case in Iran, whose
court sentenced the U.S. reporter to an eight-year prison term last Saturday. The
report was carried by the North's state-owned radio, the Korean Central
Broadcasting Station.
The two female U.S. journalists being held in North Korea were arrested March 17
after they accidentally crossed the China-North Korea border while reportedly
trying to produce a report on people defecting from the North and the difficult
lives of people in the communist nation.
"A competent organ of the DPRK concluded the investigation into the journalists
of the United States. The organ formally decided to refer them to a trial on the
basis of the confirmed crimes committed by them," the North's Korean Central News
Agency reported Friday, referring to North Korea by its official name, the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
The journalists are Korean-American Euna Lee and Chinese-American Laura Ling, who
both work for the San Francisco-based Internet outlet Current TV.
If they are convicted of espionage, they could face up to 20 years in prison
under the North's criminal code, which renders years of imprisonment even for a
simple illegal entry into the country.
bdk@yna.co.kr
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