Temperatures will continue to fall over the next few days

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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."

      The ruling, nearly three months after their 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, raising concerns more missile tests are
being planned.


      Over the weekend, President Barack Obama used strong language on
North Korea's nuclear stance and said his administration did not
intend "to continue a policy of rewarding provocation."

      Verdicts issued by North Korea's highest court are final and
cannot be appealed, said Choi Eun-suk, a North Korean law expert at
the Institute for Far Eastern Studies at South Korea's Kyungnam
University. He said North Korea's penal code calls for transferring
them to prison within 10 days.

      The United States, which does not have diplomatic ties with
Pyongyang, was "deeply concerned" about the reported verdict,
State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said in Washington. He said
officials would "engage in all possible channels" to win the
reporters' release.

      The families of Lee, 36, and Ling, 32 - sister of National
Geographic "Explorer" TV journalist Lisa Ling, who pressed
publicly for their release last week - had no immediate comment,
spokeswoman Alanna Zahn said from New York. Gore also had no
comment, spokeswoman Kalee Kreider said.


      Kim Yong-hyun, a professor at Seoul's Dongguk University, said
the 12-year sentence - the maximum allowed under North Korean law -
may have been a reaction to recent "hard-line" threats by the
U.S., including possible sanctions and putting North Korea back on
a list of state sponsors of terrorism.


      But he predicted the journalists' eventual release following
diplomatic negotiations.

      "The sentence doesn't mean much because the issue will be
resolved diplomatically in the end," Kim said.

      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.

      Just weeks later, North Korea launched a multistage rocket over
Japan in defiance of international calls for restraint. The U.S.
and others called the launch a cover for a long-range missile test,
and the U.N. Security Council condemned the move.

      The U.N. censure enraged Pyongyang. North Korea abandoned
nuclear disarmament talks, threatened to restart its atomic program
and vowed to conduct nuclear and long-range missile tests if the
Security Council failed to apologize.

      The North followed through with its threat and staged its
second-ever underground nuclear test. U.S. officials say the North
appears to be preparing another long-range missile test at a west
coast launch pad.

      Some analysts called the arrest of the Americans a timely
"bonanza" for Pyongyang as the impoverished regime prepares to
negotiate for aid and other concessions to resolve the tense
standoff over its nuclear defiance.

      "North Korea refused to release them ahead of a court ruling
because such a move could be seen as capitulating to the United
States," said Hajime Izumi, professor of international relations
and an expert on North Korea at the University of Shizuoka in
Japan.

      But now, "North Korea may release them on humanitarian grounds
and demand the U.S. provide humanitarian aid in return," he said.
"North Korea will certainly use the reporters as a bargaining chip
in negotiations with the United States."

      Their release could come through a post-negotiation political
pardon, said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at Seoul's University of
North Korean Studies.

      Lisa Ling, who in a blog entry described "the feeling of utter
isolation" she experienced during a 2005 trip to North Korea, had
pleaded for leniency. She said neither journalist intended to cross
into North Korea and her younger sister suffered from an ulcer
requiring medical treatment, while Lee was the mother of a
4-year-old, Hannah.


      The sentence is "a terrible shock for all those who have
repeatedly insisted on their innocence," Reporters Without Borders
said in a statement, noting that North Korea is ranked as Asia's
worst country for press freedom.

      It comes a month after Iran released Iranian-American journalist
Roxana Saberi, who had been sentenced to eight years in prison for
on a charge of spying for the United States. An appeals court
reduced that to a two-year suspended sentence and she was freed May
11.


      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.

      He was accused of spying and detained for three months before
being freed after New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, then a
congressman, traveled to Pyongyang to negotiate for his release.


      The North Koreans wanted Hunziker to pay a $100,000 criminal
fine but eventually agreed on a $5,000 payment to settle a bill for
a hotel where he was detained.

Gallery

Crime, Law and Justice

Politics and Government News

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.


North Korea sentences US reporters to 12 years of prison

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