from The Korea Times
03-31-2009 20:12
By Kim Sue-young
Staff Reporter
North Korea announced Tuesday that it will try two U.S. journalists it has detained on charges of illegal entry and committing hostile acts, as opposed to expelling them.
Analysts say that the decision means it could take long time to get the pair released.
Laura Ling and Euna Lee, both working with independent media Current TV, were taken into custody on March 17 near the China-North Korea border.
"The illegal entry of U.S. reporters into North Korea and their suspected hostile acts have been confirmed by evidence and their statements,'' said the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KNCA).
"The state is to indict them,'' the KCNA said.
However, it did not give any details as to what the "hostile acts'' were. Intelligence sources at home and abroad said the journalists were probably being interrogated for alleged spying. Under North Korean law, people convicted of espionage can be jailed for up to 20 years.
The KCNA's announcement came hours after the U.S. State Department said that a Swedish diplomat had access to the American journalists.
"It was over the weekend. A representative of the Swedish Embassy met with each one individually,'' State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid said.
He did not specify the current condition of the Korean-American Lee and Chinese-American Ling, who are believed to have entered North Korea from China by mistake.
According to reports, they were sent to a top-security guesthouse on the outskirts of Pyongyang a day after they were arrested but State Department officials have not confirmed where they are being detained.
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