ID :
64275
Thu, 06/04/2009 - 20:32
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/64275
The shortlink copeid
(3rd LD) Two U.S. journalists stand trial in North Korea
(ATTN: CLARIFIES 2nd para, TRIMS lead)
By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, June 4 (Yonhap) -- Two U.S. journalists stood trial in North Korea on
Thursday facing charges that may send them to a labor camp for years amid
sharpening diplomatic tensions between the two countries.
The official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said the trial would begin at the
nation's top court in Pyongyang at 3 p.m., but gave no follow-up report.
The journalists from Current TV, a San Francisco-based Internet outlet co-founded
by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, were detained near the North Korean border
with China on March 17 while working on a story about North Korean defectors, a
sore subject for the Pyongyang regime.
The KCNA's one-sentence report did not specify the charges, only saying the trial
at the Central Court will proceed "on the basis of the indictment already brought
against them." The news agency previously said they had illegally entered the
country and committed "hostile" acts.
South Korea's Unification Ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung could only say, "It
won't be long" until the verdicts are announced.
North Korea has been unusually informative in handling the detained Americans,
announcing their arrest, indictment and the trial schedule through its state
media. The North also allowed the Americans to call their families last week, as
well as consular contacts through the Swedish mission in Pyongyang. Washington
has no diplomatic relations with the North.
In contrast, North Korea has allowed neither access nor phone calls to a South
Korean worker detained on its soil.
Analysts generally believe the Americans may initially get harsh sentences, but
will be released if or when negotiations with the U.S. make progress.
"For North Korea, the trial is a strong means of diplomacy it can use toward the
United States," Cho Myung-chul, a former economics professor at Pyongyang's Kim
Il Sung university who defected to the South in 1994, said.
North Korea does not usually report on trials, and when it does, the purpose is
for international impact, said Cho, now an analyst with the Korea Institute for
International Economic Policy in Seoul.
"The U.S. is a democratic country that can't just leave its detained citizens
alone. It's inevitable for the U.S. to hold dialogue," Cho said.
North Korean criminal law stipulates a maximum of 10 years in a labor camp for
hostile activities or espionage. A ruling by the top court would be final, as it
does not allow appeals, Seoul officials say.
Families called on Pyongyang and Washington not to involve politics, but resolve
the case on humanitarian grounds.
The sensitive case comes as the U.S. seeks strong U.N. Security Council
punishment for the North's second nuclear test conducted last week. Visiting U.S.
Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg said Pyongyang is "mistaken" if it
believes it can get anything from the U.S. through provocations, according to the
office of President Lee Myung-bak.
Lee told Steinberg that the North Korean nuclear issue can be resolved only "if
the international community sends a clear warning against North Korea's wrong
behavior by adopting a U.N. Security Council resolution" against the test.
North Korea appears to be continuing to raise the stakes. Seoul's military
officials said it may be preparing to test-launch an intercontinental ballistic
missile.
Tension briefly rose along the western inter-Korean sea border Thursday when a
North Korean patrol boat entered South Korean waters. It withdrew nearly an hour
later following warnings from the South Korean Navy, Joint Chiefs of Staff
officials in Seoul said.
Frustrations run deep in South Korea, with its citizen being held in the North
for more than two months.
The Hyundai Asan Corp. employee was detained at a joint industrial park in the
North's border town of Kaesong on March 30 for criticizing the North's political
system and trying to incite defection by a local female worker. Chun, the
ministry spokesman, said the detainee "could not be located yet," as the North
refuses to discuss the issue.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, June 4 (Yonhap) -- Two U.S. journalists stood trial in North Korea on
Thursday facing charges that may send them to a labor camp for years amid
sharpening diplomatic tensions between the two countries.
The official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said the trial would begin at the
nation's top court in Pyongyang at 3 p.m., but gave no follow-up report.
The journalists from Current TV, a San Francisco-based Internet outlet co-founded
by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, were detained near the North Korean border
with China on March 17 while working on a story about North Korean defectors, a
sore subject for the Pyongyang regime.
The KCNA's one-sentence report did not specify the charges, only saying the trial
at the Central Court will proceed "on the basis of the indictment already brought
against them." The news agency previously said they had illegally entered the
country and committed "hostile" acts.
South Korea's Unification Ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung could only say, "It
won't be long" until the verdicts are announced.
North Korea has been unusually informative in handling the detained Americans,
announcing their arrest, indictment and the trial schedule through its state
media. The North also allowed the Americans to call their families last week, as
well as consular contacts through the Swedish mission in Pyongyang. Washington
has no diplomatic relations with the North.
In contrast, North Korea has allowed neither access nor phone calls to a South
Korean worker detained on its soil.
Analysts generally believe the Americans may initially get harsh sentences, but
will be released if or when negotiations with the U.S. make progress.
"For North Korea, the trial is a strong means of diplomacy it can use toward the
United States," Cho Myung-chul, a former economics professor at Pyongyang's Kim
Il Sung university who defected to the South in 1994, said.
North Korea does not usually report on trials, and when it does, the purpose is
for international impact, said Cho, now an analyst with the Korea Institute for
International Economic Policy in Seoul.
"The U.S. is a democratic country that can't just leave its detained citizens
alone. It's inevitable for the U.S. to hold dialogue," Cho said.
North Korean criminal law stipulates a maximum of 10 years in a labor camp for
hostile activities or espionage. A ruling by the top court would be final, as it
does not allow appeals, Seoul officials say.
Families called on Pyongyang and Washington not to involve politics, but resolve
the case on humanitarian grounds.
The sensitive case comes as the U.S. seeks strong U.N. Security Council
punishment for the North's second nuclear test conducted last week. Visiting U.S.
Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg said Pyongyang is "mistaken" if it
believes it can get anything from the U.S. through provocations, according to the
office of President Lee Myung-bak.
Lee told Steinberg that the North Korean nuclear issue can be resolved only "if
the international community sends a clear warning against North Korea's wrong
behavior by adopting a U.N. Security Council resolution" against the test.
North Korea appears to be continuing to raise the stakes. Seoul's military
officials said it may be preparing to test-launch an intercontinental ballistic
missile.
Tension briefly rose along the western inter-Korean sea border Thursday when a
North Korean patrol boat entered South Korean waters. It withdrew nearly an hour
later following warnings from the South Korean Navy, Joint Chiefs of Staff
officials in Seoul said.
Frustrations run deep in South Korea, with its citizen being held in the North
for more than two months.
The Hyundai Asan Corp. employee was detained at a joint industrial park in the
North's border town of Kaesong on March 30 for criticizing the North's political
system and trying to incite defection by a local female worker. Chun, the
ministry spokesman, said the detainee "could not be located yet," as the North
refuses to discuss the issue.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
