"N. Korea sentences US reporters to 12 years labor" by Vijay Joshi, Associated Press Writer | June 8, 2009
SEOUL, South Korea --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.
That there NOC, Al?
Also see: U.S. Reporter Spied on Iran For USrael
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.... Kim Yong-hyun, a professor at Seoul's Dongguk University, predicted the journalists' eventual release following diplomatic negotiations.
North Korean guards arrested Ling and Lee near the China-North Korean border on March 17. The two were reporting about the trafficking of North Korean women at the time of their arrest, and it's unclear if they strayed into the North or were grabbed by aggressive border guards who crossed into China. A cameraman and their local guide escaped....
If it was on the Chinese side wouldn't that have been reported?
Wouldn't the cameraman and guide know?
And get this:
Another American who stood trial in North Korea in 1996 was treated more leniently. Evan C. Hunziker, apparently acting on a drunken dare, swam across the Yalu River dividing North Korea from China.
BULLSHIT!!!
See: Burmese Case Gets More Bizarre
Can't they think of better excuses and lies?
--more--"
WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama and his top national security aides yesterday urged North Korea to release "on humanitarian grounds" two American journalists sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for entering North Korean territory. But administration officials also warned that the harsh sentence was likely to be a negotiating ploy as the country tries to avoid new sanctions in response to its nuclear test two weeks ago.
In public statements, administration officials frequently referred to the two journalists as "young women" who might have inadvertently crossed the North Korean border, and urged North Korea to return them to their families....
The sentences of Laura Ling, 32, and Euna Lee, 36, to serve in North Korea's famously brutal labor camps - where stories of starvation, overwork, and mistreatment are legion - have complicated the Obama administration's agenda. The administration has been working at the UN Security Council for a series of new sanctions....
Officials appeared to be weighing whether to send a special envoy in a high-profile effort to secure the release of the two women, who were detained by North Korean soldiers at the Chinese border on March 17. The two most likely candidates were former Vice President Al Gore, whose Current TV news network employs the two journalists, and Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico, who has visited North Korea regularly and arranged the release of another American 15 years ago....
One wonders why the Times doesn't mention Mr. Hunzicker (jooish?), 'eh?
Or why the WEB REPORT is CENSORED from the PRINTED PAPER!
