President Obama expressed “deep concern” yesterday after a court in North Korea sentenced two American journalists to 12 years’ hard labour.
The verdict added to pressure on the US Government to respond to weeks of unanswered provocation by the isolated dictatorship, which faces new sanctions at the UN, possibly as early as tomorrow.
The White House said that the US was working “through all possible channels” to secure the release of Laura Ling and Euna Lee, after a terse report from the North Korean state news agency announced the outcome of their closed trial. The two women were arrested in March close to the border with China.
“The trial confirmed the grave crime they committed against the Korean nation and their illegal border crossing,” it said, “and sentenced each of them to 12 years of reform through labour.”
Before the announcement of the verdict, Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, suggested that Washington might again officially designate North Korea as a sponsor of terrorism. Two months after a long-range rocket test and two weeks after Pyongyang’s second nuclear test, however, the US Government and the international community are struggling to formulate a meaningful response.
Advertisement
America is pushing for a resolution at the UN authorising the cargo inspection of planes and ships to and from North Korea despite Pyongyang’s threat to treat the step as an “act of war”. The draft resolution being discussed by diplomats at the UN last night would require all states to make spot checks on North Korean aircraft and vessels if they had “reasonable grounds” to believe that the cargo contained banned arms or nuclear and missile technology.
China was trying to water down the language, however, so that the inspections were merely recommended, rather than compulsory, and required “credible evidence”.
The US proposal, obtained by the website Inner City Press, would expand the present UN embargo on North Korean nuclear and missile technology and heavy weapons to include all arms except light weapons.
It would also authorise any UN member state to inspect North Korean cargos on the high seas under similar circumstances with the permission of the vessel’s flag state. If the flag state declined, it would be required to order the ship to a port where it could be inspected by local authorities.
Yesterday Mrs Clinton said she hoped that the journalists’ case and the international showdown over North Korea’s nuclear weapons would be kept separate. The sentence imposed by the North Korean court on Ling and Lee exceeded the maximum ten years of imprisonment predicted, and the nature of the “grave crime” of which they have been convicted has still not been made clear.
Advertisement
In 12 weeks of captivity they have received just three visits — from the Swedish Ambassador to Pyongyang, who represents US interests in the absence of formal diplomatic relations — and been allowed to write a handful of letters and make one telephone call each to their families. “Though the girls are strong, we know that they are very, very scared,” their families said recently.
Ling, 32, a Chinese-American, and Lee, who is of Korean origin, were arrested on March 17 after travelling to China and visiting its long and porous border with North Korea. They were conducting research for a film about the many poor North Koreans who sneak into China to work, trade and smuggle, and to escape the repression in their country.
The women were accompanied by a Chinese guide and an American cameraman, Mitch Koss, who also worked for Current TV, an internet-based channel founded by Al Gore, the former US Vice-President.
Mr Koss returned to the US after the arrest of his colleagues. He has not said whether they crossed the frozen river that marks the frontier, or were lured or abducted to the other side.The two women were tried at Pyongyang Central Court, the highest court in the country, from which there is no appeal. The pace of North Korea’s stunts has provoked speculation that the Government is attempting to distract its population from insecurity caused by a transition of power from Kim Jong Il to his youngest son.
Mr Kim, 67, was seriously ill last year and recent reports in the North Korean media have, unusually, emphasised his frailty rather than presenting him as a superhuman.