SEOUL, South Korea — Two American journalists headed to trial Thursday before North Korea’s highest court on charges they crossed into the country illegally and engaged in “hostile acts” — allegations that could draw a 10-year sentence in a labor camp.
Laura Ling and Euna Lee, reporters for former Vice President Al Gore’s California-based Current TV, were arrested March 17 near the North Korean border while on a reporting trip to China.
Their trial began at a time of mounting tensions on the Korean peninsula following the regime’s provocative May 25 nuclear test.
As the United Nations and Washington discussed how to punish the regime for its defiance, there were fears the women could become political pawns in the standoff with Pyongyang.
Analyst Choi Eun-Suk, a professor of North Korean law at Kyungnam University, said the court could convict the women, and then the government could use them as bargaining chips.
“The North is likely to release and deport them to the U.S. — if negotiations with the U.S. go well,” Choi said.
The two nations do not have diplomatic relations, and experts called Pyongyang’s belligerence a bid to get President Barack Obama’s attention.
North Korea’s official news agency said the trial would begin by midafternoon, but hours later, there was no word on the status of the proceedings. A State Department spokesman said American officials had seen no independent confirmation that the case was underway.
