NKorea says two US journalists will stand trial

North Korea said Tuesday it would put two US female journalists on trial for "hostile acts" and for illegally entering the country.

"The illegal entry of US reporters into the DPRK North Korea and their suspected hostile acts have been confirmed by evidence and their statements," the official Korean Central News Agency said.

It said "a competent organ" was continuing an investigation and "at the same time, making a preparation for indicting them at a trial on the basis of the already confirmed suspicions."

Euna Lee, a Korean-American, and Laura Ling, a Chinese-American, were detained before dawn on March 17 along the Tumen River border with China while working on a story about refugees fleeing the hardline communist state.

The news agency said the pair, who work for Current TV in California, would be allowed consular access and would be treated according to international law.

It did not specify what was meant by "hostile acts" or say when they might appear in court, but media reports in South Korea have said they could be tried for spying.

The announcement of a trial comes amid high tensions in the region over Pyongyang's plans to launch a communications satellite, possibly this weekend.

Washington and its allies say the launch is a pretext to test a long-range missile in violation of UN resolutions.

"The United States continues to work on this matter through diplomatic channels," said a senior White House official who asked not to be named.

"We have seen the brief North Korean press report on the trial," the official told AFP. "We have no higher priority than the protection of American citizens abroad."

The State Department said earlier Monday that a Swedish envoy acting on behalf of Washington, which has no diplomatic relations with Pyongyang, had visited the journalists over the weekend.

"A representative of the Swedish embassy met with each one individually," spokesman Gordon Duguid said, giving no details of their condition.

US officials said it was the first time that Sweden had been given consular access to them.

The State Department said last week the North Koreans had assured US officials that the pair would be treated well.

South Korean daily JoongAng Ilbo has said the pair were taken to a top-security guest house on the outskirts of Pyongyang a day after they were seized.

"The questioning is likely to focus on having the two journalists confess to committing espionage," the paper quoted a Seoul intelligence source as saying.

Kim Yong-Hyun, a North Korea studies professor at Dongguk University, said Pyongyang appears to be raising the stakes before its missile launch.

Richardson, who is now the governor of New Mexico, in 1994 helped negotiate the release of a US military helicopter pilot shot down after straying into North Korea.





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