Obama expresses concerns over American journalists detained in N. Korea

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, May 1 (Yonhap) -- U.S. President Barack Obama Friday expressed
concerns about two American journalists and another detained in North Korea and
Iran, respectively, for alleged espionage.
The U.S. is "especially concerned about the citizens from our own country
currently under detention abroad: individuals such as Roxana Saberi in Iran, and
Euna Lee and Laura Ling in North Korea," Obama said in a statement to mark World
Press Freedom Day.
North Korea said last week that it had concluded an investigation and will
formally refer the American journalists to trial for "confirmed crimes."
North Korea did not elaborate, but it had previously charged the journalists with
illegal entry and "hostile acts."
Lee and Ling, from Current TV, a San Francisco-based Internet outlet, face up to
20 years in prison if convicted of espionage under the North Korean criminal
code, unlike illegal entry, which is punishable by a few years' imprisonment.
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.
Saberi, meanwhile, is fasting at an Iranian prison cell in protest against the
eight-year sentence given to her recently for espionage, which she denies. She
was detained in January for not possessing a proper identification card as a
legitimate foreign correspondent.
U.S. officials said that the Swedish ambassador in Pyongyang briefly visited the
American reporters on March 30, and that the U.S. government has been in
negotiations with North Koreans and relevant governments to secure their release.
The Swedish embassy handles consular affairs involving American citizens in North
Korea as Washington does not have diplomat relations with the reclusive communist
state.
In 1994, 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.
hdh@yna.co.kr
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