N Korea to put US journalists on trial

N Korea to put US journalists on trial
By Christian Oliver in Seoul
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009
Published: April 24 2009 09:18 | Last updated: April 24 2009 09:18
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/56d8e10a-30a7-11de-bc38-00144feabdc0.html


North Korea has put two US reporters on trial, further heightening tensions on the peninsula while Russia’s foreign minister visited Seoul and nuclear-armed Pyongyang in an apparently unsuccessful attempt to forge a rapprochement.

Laura Ling and Euna Lee were arrested while making a film about North Korean refugees near the frozen Tumen river on the Chinese border last month. They were initially accused of illegal entry and unspecified “hostile acts”.

Their detention came three weeks before the communist dictatorship riled the UN by firing a long-range rocket over Japan, expelling atomic inspectors and vowing to restart a plant that can produce weapons-grade plutonium.

“A relevant agency from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has completed its investigation into the detainees and has decided to try them,” the communist state’s official KCNA agency said on Friday.

Ms Ling and Ms Lee were working for Current TV, an internet channel founded by Al Gore, former US vice-president.

Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, arrived in North Korea on Thursday, hoping to convince Pyongyang to return to six-party talks. North Korea has sworn never to return to these negotiations, aimed at dismantling its nuclear weapons programme.

In a sign of continued defiance, KCNA reported on Friday simply that Mr Lavrov had “taken note” of Pyongyang’s decision not to return to the discussions.

Curiously, KCNA also said Russia had reaffirmed its opposition to UN sanctions against North Korea. Although Moscow opposes fresh sanctions, Russia was one of the 15 Security Council members that unanimously passed a statement calling for earlier sanctions to be implemented after the long-range rocket launch on April 5.

Mr Lavrov was due to arrive in Seoul on Friday night and is due to meet South Korea’s president, Lee Myung-bak, on Saturday.

Relations between the Koreas are at a nadir with North Korea saying that the South is pushing it to the brink of war.

Kim Jong-il, North Korea’s dictator, is furious Mr Lee has not courted him in the manner of previous leftist administrations and has made the North apply to Seoul for food aid. This is anathema to the North which views itself as the legitimate government on the peninsula.

Japan’s former prime minister, Shinzo Abe, also confirmed suspicions that North Korea’s belligerence was irritating China, the closest country North Korea has to a genuine ally. China has told North Korea to return to six-party talks.

He told the Bloomberg news agency China resented being tapped for food aid just because it was fearful about the consequences of North Korea collapsing.