hankyoreh

April 2

North Korea has announced plans to hold a trial beginning June 4 for two women journalists from the U.S. currently being detained.

“The Central Court of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has decided to try the U.S. journalists on June 4 based on the indictments being prepared by prosecutors,” the country’s Korean Central News Agency announced in the form of a “report” on Thursday. The agency made no reference this time to specific details of the charges applied, but in an interim investigation report on March 31, it said that the charges include “illegal entry into the country and hostile acts.”

According to North Korean criminal law, the charge of committing a “hostile act” carries a sentence of five to ten years of “labor education,” or more than ten years for “serious situations.” The sentence for a charge of “illegal entry into the country” is up to two or three years of “labor education.”

Korean-American journalist Euna Lee and Chinese-American journalist Laura Ling, both from Current TV, a U.S.-based media venture, were captured and detained by North Korean authorities on March 17 while collecting material on North Korean defectors in the Tumen River area of the North Korea-China border.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]