North Korea Jails Two American Journalists: 12-Year Prison Sentence Plus Hard Labor

Euna Lee and Laura Ling were seized on March 17 while working on a television documentary about North Korean exiles crossing the border into China. It is unclear if they crossed the border into North Korea or were apprehended by aggressive border guards while still inside China. “The trial confirmed the grave crime they committed against the Korean nation and their illegal border crossing,” said the Korean Central News Agency, the official state news agency. It said the court had “sentenced each of them to 12 years of reform through labour”.

The trial of the two journalists began on June 4, however no details emerged from the closed hearing until today. The North has not specified the exact charges, or allowed foreign observers into the proceedings. Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of State, said she was “incredibly concerned” about the fate of the two women, and that the charges against them “are absolutely without merit or foundation”. She said she had sent a letter to Pyongyang demanding their release. “I have taken every action that we thought would produce the result we are looking for,” she said, adding that she wanted them to be “sent home”.

North Korea’s decision to imprison the women coincided with reports in Washington that the Obama administration was looking at ways to put North Korea back on the list of states that sponsor terrorism, a move that would incur tough sanctions and an arms embargo. “If we do not take significant and effective action against the North Koreans now it could spark an arms race in North East Asia,” said Mrs Clinton. The US is also mulling whether to board and inspect ships bound for North Korea. Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korean expert at Dongguk University in Seoul, said Pyongyang had tried to use the two journalists as a bargaining chip, saying that they might have been released if the US had sent a special envoy to Pyongyang. “The North makes political judgements which have nothing to do with the law,” he said. Choi Eun-suk, a professor of North Korean law at Kyungnam University said there was no option to appeal the verdict because the decisions of Pyongyang’s High Court are considered final.

In previous cases, Americans have been sentenced first before negotiations began. The most recent case involved Evan Hunziker who swam across the Yalu river border as a dare in 1996. He was arrested and accused of spying and spent three months in detention after he paid USD5,000 to settle the bill of the hotel where he was imprisoned.