North Korea May Used Captured Journalists as Pawns in Talks With West
Two American journalists who were arrested near the China border by North Korean authorities may become pawns in nuclear-arms negotiations with the West, diplomats told Reuters today.
Jon Herskovitz reports from Seoul:
The Obama administration is unlikely to hold direct talks with North Korea over the nuclear threats because it could be seen as a sign of rewarding Pyongyang’s bad behavior, diplomatic sources have said.
However, North Korea may discuss terms for releasing two U.S. journalists it detained last month near its border with China — Euna Lee and Laura Ling of California-based media outlet Current TV — as a way to engage in direct talks with Washington.
“(The matter) could spark a back-channel negotiation, which could ultimately open the door for bilateral talks later on,” said Yun Duk-min of the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security in Seoul.
The pair were seized while working on a documentary for Current TV on North Korea’s trafficking of women to China for sale.
Chinese sources have told Reporters Sans Frontieres that North Korean guards most likely crossed the small river to get the reporters, in essence kidnapping them.
The state-owned North Korean news agency KCNA announced earlier that the reporters have been charged with “illegal” entry. “The illegal entry of U.S. reporters into the DPRK [North Korea] and their suspected hostile acts have been confirmed by evidence and their statements,” the news agency said. If convicted, they could be sentenced from five and 10 years of forced labor.
North Korea on Thursday expelled inspectors from International Atomic Energy Agency who have been monitoring the country’s main nuclear facility, declaring its withdrawal from six-nation denuclearization talks and restoration of a nuclear reactor that was being disabled.
