N. Korea sentences two U.S. reporters to 12 years in labor prison

(ATTN: UPDATES with more details)
By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, June 8 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's highest court on Monday sentenced two
U.S. journalists detained in March near the border with China to 12 years in
labor camp for an unspecified "grave crime" and illegal entry, Pyongyang's news
agency said.
The sentence for Chinese-American Laura Ling and Korean-American Euna Lee appears
to be harsher than expected, with their charges believed to carry a maximum
sentence of up to 10 years in prison under North Korean criminal law, according
to officials and watchers here.
The Central Court, North Korea's top court in Pyongyang, "staged a trial of
American journalists Laura Ling and Seung-eun Lee from June 4 to 8," the Korean
Central News Agency said, referring to Lee by her Korean name.
"The trial confirmed the grave crime they committed against the Korean nation and
their illegal border crossing," it said, "and sentenced each of them to 12 years
of reform through labor."
The report did not specify what the grave crime was. The North previously accused
them of illegally entering the country and engaging in "hostile" acts.
The verdict would be final, as the North's top court does not allow appeals, the
Seoul officials say.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has lately toughened her call on North
Korea to free the two women, saying the charges against them are baseless.
Washington believes that "the charges against these young women are absolutely
without merit or foundation," Clinton said in an interview with ABC television
over the weekend. Clinton admitted to sending a letter asking for their release
and said she has received "responses."
The journalists from Current TV, a San Francisco-based Internet outlet co-founded
by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, were detained on March 17 while working on
a story about North Korean defectors.
Washington did not rule out the possibility of Gore flying to North Korea to
negotiate their release.
Negotiations have won releases in previous cases. Bill Richardson, a former New
Mexico governor, flew to Pyongyang to win the release of Evan Hunziker, a U.S.
citizen who was detained for three months in the North in 1996 after swimming
across the river that borders China.
U.S. Army helicopter pilot Bobby Hall was released 13 days after his helicopter
strayed into North Korea in 1994. The two cases did not involve trials.
North Korea has also been holding a South Korean citizen for 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 the defection of a local female worker. The North has neither
allowed access to him nor said how the case will be handled.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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