N. Korea says two U.S. journalists admitted to 'political' smear campaign

(ATTN: UPDATES with background, analysis, TRIMS headline)
By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, June 16 (Yonhap) -- North Korea said Tuesday that two jailed U.S.
journalists admitted to having the "political motive" of blackmailing the North
over its human rights conditions, linking their detention to the country's
deteriorating relations with Washington.

Pyongyang is closely watching "the attitude of the U.S.," the official Korean
Central News Agency said, just hours before South Korean President Lee Myung-bak
and U.S. President Barack Obama were to meet in Washington. The leaders will
focus on coordinating sanctions against the North over its May 25 nuclear test.
"At the trial the accused admitted that what they did were criminal acts
committed, prompted by the political motive to isolate and stifle the socialist
system of the DPRK (North Korea)," the report said.
Chinese-American Laura Ling, 32, and Korean-American Euna Lee, 36, reporters for
the San Francisco-based Current TV, were detained near the border with China in
March while working on a story about North Korean defectors.
North Korea's highest court sentenced them on June 8 to 12 years of hard labor
for illegal entry and hostile acts.
Laying out a detailed account for the first time, Tuesday's report connected the
journalists' case to the sharpening diplomatic confrontation between the U.S. and
North Korea.
The Americans consulted with senior producers of their television station for the
"anti-DPRK smear campaign over its human rights issue" in January and covertly
crossed the Tumen River that separates the country from China at dawn on March
17, the report claimed. They were arrested on the spot, it said.
The North accused the journalists of "faking up moving images aimed at falsifying
its human rights performance and hurling slanders and calumnies at it."
"We are following with a high degree of vigilance the attitude of the U.S. which
spawned the criminal act against the DPRK," the report said.
The report added the prison term is counted from March 22, when the two were
formally detained for an investigation and that the ruling cannot be appealed.
Seoul analysts believe the North timed its latest report on the U.S. detainees
with the South Korea-U.S. summit set to start at the White House at 11:30 p.m.
(Seoul time).
North Korea is reminding President Obama that he has an issue to solve with
Pyongyang and that he had better tone down any criticism and start direct talks,
said Kim Yong-hyun, a North Korea studies professor at Dongguk University in
Seoul.
The allies strongly condemned the North's May 25 nuclear test, and the U.N.
Security Council, with support from Seoul and Tokyo, hardened financial and
diplomatic sanctions against the North last week.
In response, Pyongyang vowed to weaponize all plutonium it has and start
enriching uranium, which is widely viewed as a second track to building nuclear
weapons.
"North Korea is telling the U.S., 'Do not stick with harsh sanctions in the
summit. These people committed these serious crimes, so shouldn't you step out
for their release? 'It is saying the U.S. should take political action to resolve
the political case," Kim said.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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