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Two American journalists faced trial Thursday in North Korea on accusations
of illegal entry and "hostile acts" in a case that could send them to a labor
camp for 10 years. Back home, their families pleaded for leniency.
Laura Ling and Euna Lee, reporters for former Vice President Al Gore's
California-based Current TV media venture, were arrested March 17 near the North
Korean border while on a reporting trip to China.
North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency said in a brief dispatch
earlier Thursday that the trial was to have begun at 3 p.m. (0600 GMT; 2 a.m.
EDT) in Pyongyang's Central Court. There was no immediate word on the status of
the proceedings.
The trial was taking place at a time of mounting tensions on the Korean
peninsula following the regime's provocative nuclear test last week.
As discussions continued at the United Nations and in Washington on how to
punish the regime for its defiance, there were fears the women could become
political pawns in any negotiations North Korea undertakes.
Analyst Choi Eun-suk, a professor of North Korean law at Kyungnam University,
said the court could convict and sentence the women to labor, and then use them
as bargaining chips in negotiations with the U.S.
"The North is likely to release and deport them to the U.S. — if negotiations
with the U.S. go well," Choi said.
North Korea and the U.S., former Korean War foes, do not have diplomatic
relations, and analysts called Pyongyang's recent belligerence a bid to grab
President Barack Obama's attention.
Pyongyang "believes the Obama administration has not made North Korea a
priority," said David Straub of Stanford University's Korean studies program.
Back home, the reporters' families pleaded for clemency.
"All we can do is hope the North Korean government will show leniency," Ling's
sister, TV journalist Lisa Ling, said in an emotional plea at a California vigil
Wednesday night. "If at any point they committed a transgression, then our
families are deeply, deeply sorry. We know the girls are sorry as well."
She urged Washington and Pyongyang not to let politics dictate the reporters'
fate.
"Tensions are so heated, and the girls are essentially in the midst of this
nuclear standoff," she said on CNN's "Larry King Live." Ling urged the
governments to "try to communicate, to try and bring our situation to a
resolution on humanitarian grounds — to separate the issues."
State-run media have not defined the exact charges against them, but South
Korean legal experts said conviction for "hostility" or espionage could mean
five to 10 years in a labor camp. Choi said a ruling by the top court would be
final.
The circumstances of their arrest were hazy. The Current TV team had gone to the
Chinese border city of Yanji to report on the trafficking of North Korean women,
Lisa Ling said.
"Too many sad stories," her younger sister posted to Twitter days before her
arrest.
They were seized somewhere near the frozen Tumen River dividing North Korea and
China while a cameraman and their guide managed to evade the North Korean
guards.
For weeks, there was little word about their well-being in separate quarters in
one of the world's most isolated nations. Sweden's ambassador to North Korea has
paid the women three visits each and brought back a letter from Laura Ling
saying she "cried so much" at first but was biding her time with stretches and
meditation.
Lisa Ling said she got a surprise phone call last Tuesday from her "extremely
scared" younger sister, asking for help.
"My sister said that the only hope that she and Euna had to get released was if
our government and North Korea's communicated directly," Lisa Ling said. "'I
know that you've been trying to get other countries involved,' she said, 'but
our only hope is if our countries talk.'"
The State Department has not divulged details about any negotiations for their
freedom.
"We continue to consult with the families. And there is no higher priority that
we have than protection of American civilians abroad," spokesman P.J. Crowley
said Wednesday in Washington. "And we, again, hope that North Korea will forgo
this legal process and return them to the United States."
In New York, dozens turned out in a drenching rain for a vigil led by Ling's
cousin Angie Wang. Some held yellow chrysanthemums.
"Nobody should be holding people for purely political gamesmanship purposes,"
said J.B. Miller, 44.
Media groups also pressed for their release.
"We urge that their fate not be linked to the ongoing security situation on the
Korean Peninsula," Bob Dietz of the Committee to Protect Journalists said in a
statement. "Euna Lee and Laura Ling were acting as journalists, not criminals,
and should be released."
Roxana Saberi, an American journalist who spent four months in an Iranian prison
before being released May 11 on a suspended sentence for spying, urged the women
to "remain strong."
"If Laura and Euna's situation resembles anything like mine, I can imagine a
little of what they might be wishing for: The presumption of innocence until
proven guilty. A fair trial, with access to attorneys of their choice and the
right to study what is claimed as evidence against them. More contact with their
families, whom they probably worry are worrying about themselves!" |
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