N. Korea Sentences Two U.S. Journalists
North Korea's high court sentenced two American journalists to 12 years hard labor, alleging they crossed into the communist country illegally. Ambassador Charles "Jack" Pritchard, president of the Korea Economic Institute in Washington, offers his insight.
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North Korea's high court sentenced two American journalists to 12 years hard labor, alleging they crossed into the communist country illegally. Journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee were arrested in March near North Korea's border with China.Ambassador Charles "Jack" Pritchard, president of the Korea Economic Institute in Washington, says he finds it difficult to believe North Korea will put two Americans into the same type of prison system that North Koreans endure."I would imagine that the North Koreans want the Americans to come out of there with less than horror stories to tell," he says.Ling and Lee were also accused of "hostile acts" against North Korea, and Pritchard says the fact that the North Koreans used that term in the sentencing does not bode well."There seems to be a political linkage there, that their actions are in parallel to what they believe U.S. actions are," he says.Pritchard says he believes the two journalists will be used politically by North Korea, whose May nuclear nuclear test is the subject of severe international scrutiny."There is not doubt that they will be used in a political fashion," he says.Pritchard is pessimistic about the prospects for their release."The fact that they've been given a 12-year sentence is fairly severe and it certainly is not correspondent to the charges that were laid against them," he says. "I'm not optimistic at all that this is going to play out in a very favorable situation."WorldNorth Korea Sentences 2 U.S. Journalists This combined image of American journalists Euna Lee (left) and Laura Ling was released by Yonhap news agency on March 19, two days after they were detained in North Korea. Yonhap/AFP/Getty Images In Focus Listen: NPR's Anthony Kuhn Discusses The Sentence On Morning Edition add “North Korea refused to release them ahead of a court ruling because such a move could be seen as capitulating to the United States.”Hajime Izumi, professor of international relations at the University of Shizuoka in Japan. North Korea convicted two American journalists and sentenced them Monday to 12 years of hard labor, intensifying the reclusive nation's confrontation with the United States. Washington said it would "engage in all possible channels" to win the release of Laura Ling and Euna Lee, reporters for former Vice President Al Gore's San Francisco-based Current TV media venture. There are fears Pyongyang is using the women as bargaining chips as the U.N. debates a new resolution to punish the country for its defiant May 25 atomic test and as North Korea seeks to draw Washington into direct negotiations. The journalists were found guilty of committing a "grave crime" against North Korea and of illegally entering the country, state-run media said. The Central Court in Pyongyang sentenced each to 12 years of "reform through labor" in a North Korean prison after a five-day trial, the Korean Central News Agency said in a terse, two-line report that provided no further details. A Korean-language version said they were convicted of "hostility toward the Korean people."Former U.N. Ambassador Bill Richardson called the sentence "harsher than expected" during an interview Monday on NBC's Today show. But at the same time, Richardson, who was instrumental in negotiating the release of U.S. citizens from North Korea in an incident in the 1990s, said "the good thing is that there is no charge of espionage." He also said now that the legal process has been completed, he thinks negotiations for their "humanitarian release" can begin. The ruling, nearly three months after Ling and Lee's arrest, comes amid soaring tensions fueled by North Korea's nuclear test last month and signs it is preparing for a long-range missile test. On Monday, North Korea warned fishing boats to stay away from the east coast, Japan's coast guard said,