Swedish envoy meets American journalists detained in Pyongyang: State Dept.

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, May 15 (Yonhap) -- The Swedish ambassador to North Korea met Friday
with two American journalists detained in the reclusive communist state for
illegal entry, the U.S. State Department said.
"The Swedish Ambassador to North Korea, acting as the United States' protecting
power, met with each of the two detained American citizen journalists on May 15,"
spokesman Ian Kelly said in a statement.
The Swedish Embassy handles consular affairs involving American citizens in North
Korea, as Washington does not have diplomatic relations with the North.
It's the second consular access to Euna Lee and Laura Ling from Current TV, a San
Francisco-based Internet news outlet, by ambassador Mats Foyer since March 30
when the envoy met them the first time.
Kelly did not elaborate on the health or any other information on the journalists
who were detained near the Chinese border with North Korea on March 17 when they
were reportedly filming the North Korean side for their news coverage of North
Korean refugees.
North Korea said Thursday that the reporters will be put to trial on June 4 on
charges of illegal entry and unspecified "hostile acts."
They face up to 10 years in prison if convicted of espionage under the North
Korean criminal code, unlike illegal entry, which is punishable by a few years'
imprisonment.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Thursday called on North Korea to
immediately release the two American journalists, hoping the North's decision to
try them next month signaled their early release.
"We believe that the charges are baseless and should not have been brought, and
that these two young women should be released immediately," Clinton told said.
"The trial date being set we view as a welcome time frame. But the fact that they
are now going to have some process we believe is a signal that there can be, and
I hope will be, a resolution as soon as possible."
Another American journalist, Roxana Saberi, was set free recently on a suspended
prison term after getting an eight-year sentence for espionage in Iran.
The International Press Institute and other media-related and human rights
organizations have called for the release of the American journalists.
In a statement, the IPI Thursday urged North Korea to "avoid more political
theater and do the same with Euna Lee and Laura Ling, who are innocent victims of
North Korea's desire to gain political leverage in its ongoing negotiations with
the United States."
The statement represents the view of some who see the detention as the North's
attempt to use the reporters as a means of establishing bilateral contact with
the U.S. amid tension that has escalated since its rocket launch on April 5.
North Korea withdrew from the six-party talks on ending its nuclear programs in
response to the U.N. Security Council's rebuke of the launch, which Pyongyang
says was part of a legitimate space program to put a satellite into orbit. The
talks involve South Korea, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia,
Pyongyang has also threatened to conduct further nuclear and ballistic missile
tests and restart its disabled nuclear facilities unless the Security Council
apologizes.
Two Americans were detained in North Korea briefly in the 1990s before being
released after visits to Pyongyang by Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico, then a
U.S. Congressman.
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.
hdh@yna.co.kr
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