Two U.S. journalists detained in N. Korea may be freed after trial: Gov. Richardson

By Hwang Doo-hyong

WASHINGTON, May 21 (Yonhap) -- New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said Thursday that the two American journalists detained in North Korea may be released soon after their trial in early June, and he praised the Barack Obama administration for handling the issue quietly.

"I believe so far the Obama people have handled it well. They've been restrained,
quiet diplomacy, keeping the issues separate," Richardson said in an interview
with MSNBC. "So I think there's a little back and forth right now, that, maybe
after June 4th, we can get a breakthrough and get the two women out."
Richardson, then a U.S. congressman, visited Pyongyang in 1994 and 1996 to
successfully negotiate the release of two Americans held there.
A U.S. pilot was detained in North Korea in 1994 when his 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.
Richardson saw the North's scheduling of a June 4 trial for Euna Lee and Laura
Ling of Current TV, a San Francisco-based Internet news outlet, as the start of
the North's process for their release.
"The good sign is that there is a trial date," he said. "In the previous cases,
once you end the legal process of the North Koreans and they set a trial date,
that's the time to move. The North Koreans have been relatively restrained in
their criticism of the two women. They haven't used the word espionage that much.
So I think there's some hopeful signs."
Richardson said North Korea wants to use the journalists as a bargaining chip in
reopening bilateral talks with the U.S. suspended after the launch of the Bush
administration in 2001.
"Obviously, they see the two women as possible bargaining chips," he said. "Now,
what the North Koreans want more than anything is they want to deal directly with
us. They don't want the other countries involved."
U.S. officials have said they will deal with North Korea bilaterally under the
framework of the six-party talks on the North's denuclearization, which involve
the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia.
North Korea recently threatened to boycott the multinational nuclear talks in the
wake of U.N. sanctions imposed on three North Korean firms for the North's April
5 rocket launch, which Pyongyang insists was a satellite, not a missile, launch.

Pyongyang also said it will restart its disabled nuclear facilities and conduct
further nuclear and missile tests unless the U.N. Security Council apologizes.
"So they're testing us, the North Koreans. It's a new administration," he said.
Swedish ambassador Mats Foyer met with the journalists in Pyongyang Friday in
the second consular access granted. The first meeting was held on March 30.
The Swedish Embassy handles consular affairs involving American citizens in North
Korea, as Washington does not have diplomatic relations with the North.
North Korea said last week that the reporters will be put on trial June 4 on
charges of illegal entry and "hostile acts."
The journalists, detained near the Chinese border with North Korea on March 17
while reportedly filming the North Korean side for their news coverage of North
Korean refugees, face up to 10 years in prison if convicted of espionage.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week said she hoped the North's
decision to try them next month signaled their early release.
Another American journalist, Roxana Saberi, was set free by Iran last week on a
suspended prison term after getting an eight-year sentence for espionage.