N. Korea Sets Trial Of 2 U.S. Journalists

Pair Held 2 Months Face Court in June

TOKYO, May 14 -- Two American journalists detained in North Korea for nearly two months will be put on trial in early June, the reclusive North Korean government said Thursday.

The announcement, coming in the same week as Iran's release of a U.S. reporter who had been convicted of spying, led to speculation that television reporters Laura Ling and Euna Lee might also be set free after trial as part of North Korea's diplomatic gamesmanship with the United States.

Ling and Lee, who work for former vice president Al Gore's San Francisco-based Current TV, were arrested March 17 along North Korea's border with China. They have been accused of illegal entry and "hostile acts," which in North Korea are punishable by five to 10 years in a labor camp.

In one sentence on its state news service, North Korea said its central court has "decided to try the American journalists on June 4 according to the indictment of the competent organ."

Ling and Lee were arrested during the tense run-up to North Korea's launch of a long-range missile on April 5. The U.N. Security Council unanimously condemned that launch and demanded a halt to further missile tests. In response, North Korea expelled U.N. nuclear inspectors, threatened to conduct a nuclear test and vowed never to participate again in six-country nuclear negotiations.

When the American women were first arrested, analysts said they would probably be used by North Korea as bargaining chips to try to squeeze political and financial concessions from the Obama administration, which sharply criticized the missile launch but has remained open to talks with Kim Jong Il's government.

Since the 1990s, at least three other Americans have been detained by the North for extended periods after being accused of entering the country. All three were released after negotiations.

This week, some North Korea watchers saw significance in the timing of Iran's decision Monday to free U.S. reporter Roxana Saberi from a Tehran prison and North Korea's move three days later to set an imminent trial date for Ling and Lee.

Iran and North Korea have for decades shared rocket technology. Both launched long-range missiles this year in the face of international objections, and their recent detentions of U.S. journalists have sparked widespread outrage.

"I see a great deal of similarity between the behaviors of North Korea and Iran this year," Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, told Yonhap, the South Korean news agency.

He said North Korea, after months of angry fulminations, "cannot just turn around and ask for dialogue. It needs some sort of mediating event." Based on Iran's action, Yang said, that event could be the trial, conviction and release of the American reporters.

The United States does not have diplomatic ties with North Korea. Acting on behalf of Washington, a Swedish diplomat met with the incarcerated reporters in Pyongyang on March 30. Since then, the North has cut off access to them, U.S. officials said.