Clinton urges N. Korea to release U.S. reporters

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, June 5 (Yonhap) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Friday
urged North Korea to free two American journalists held for alleged illegal entry
while on a reporting tour.
"We call again on the North Korean government to release them and enable them to
come home as soon as possible," Clinton told reporters in a joint press
availability with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.
It was the second time in as many days that she called on the reclusive North to
release Euna Lee and Laura Ling, reporters for Current TV, a San Francisco-based
Internet news outlet, who were taken into custody on the Chinese border with
North Korea on March 17 while working on a story about North Korean refugees.
The top U.S. diplomat also told a Fox News program late Thursday that "We are
clear in our position that the charges against these two young women should have
never been brought. They should be released."
Clinton said she hopes their trial "will end quickly and be resolved in a way
that allows them to come home and rejoin their families."
North Korea said Thursday that the trial would begin at 3 p.m. Thursday (Korean
time), without elaborating.
The Swedish ambassador in Pyongyang, Mats Foyer, who handles consular affairs
involving American citizens in North Korea, was denied access to the trial,
although he has met with the journalists three times each since their detention,
according to U.S. officials.
Lee and Ling face up to 10 years in prison if convicted of illegal entry and
"hostile acts."
Clinton told Fox that she hopes "there will be an opportunity for North Korea to
begin to rejoin the diplomatic efforts that have been undertaken, both on
multilateral and even bilateral basis, so that we can work with the North
Koreans."
The six-party talks on ending the North's nuclear ambitions are on the verge of
collapse as North Korea apparently seeks bilateral negotiations with the U.S. on
its nuclear and missile programs.
Clinton said she hopes the North will not use the reporters' detention as a
bargaining chip.
"We want the young women released," she said. "It's a humanitarian issue. It
never should have even come about, unfortunately. And then we have to begin to
deal with the North Koreans again on nuclearization and the other actions that
are proving so disruptive to the region and the world."
She was discussing North Korea's recent nuclear test, missile firings and other
provocations that escalated tensions on the Korean Peninsula, still technically
at war after an armistice at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.
Reports said former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, chairman of Current TV, may fly
to North Korea soon to negotiate the release of two American journalists, but
U.S. officials are neither denying nor confirming it.
Gore may replay the role of New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, then a U.S.
congressman, who visited Pyongyang to successfully negotiate the release of two
Americans in 1994 and 1996.
Scott Snyder, director of the Center for U.S.-Korea Policy at the Asia
Foundation, however, said it may take a little longer this time as North Korea
"may not be conducting business as usual given the internal focus on political
succession."
Allegations are that North Korea's ailing leader, Kim Jong-il, has been engaged
in a series of provocations since the inauguration of Obama in January in an
apparent move to ensure a smooth power transition to his third and youngest son,
Kim Jong-un.
Kim Jong-il is said to have sent out notifications of Jong-un's succession soon
after the second nuclear test late last month, apparently due to his weakening
health after a reported stroke last summer.
hdh@yna.co.kr
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