By Choe Sang-hun
Sunday, March 22, 2009
SEOUL: North Korea confirmed over the weekend that it had detained two American journalists on charges of "illegally intruding" into the country through its border with China.
The journalists, Laura Ling, a Chinese-American, and Euna Lee, a Korean-American, both working for Current TV, were on a reporting trip along the border when they were detained by North Korean border guards, according to human rights activists and a South Korean news report. Their colleague, Mitch Koss, and their Chinese guide were reported to have been detained by Chinese border guards.
"A competent organ is now investigating the case," the official North Korean news agency, KCNA, said Saturday.
The terse dispatch, which gave no details, was the first confirmation by North Korea of the arrests. On Friday, the State Department said that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was trying to free the two journalists, who had traveled to the border area to report on North Korean refugees in China, according to Chun Ki Won, a Christian clergyman in Seoul who helped arrange their trip.
Their arrest complicates the already thorny relations between the United States and the North, including an increase in tensions over North Korea's plan to launch a satellite between April 4 and April 8. U.S. officials have said they believe that the rocket launching is a cover to ballistic missile technology.
Also Saturday, North Korea told international aviation authorities that it would close two international air routes through its airspace from April 4 to April 8 for the satellite launching, according to the Japanese and South Korean governments.
It remains unclear under what circumstances Ms. Ling and Ms. Lee were detained. The Chosun Ilbo, the leading newspaper in South Korea, reported Saturday that the U.S. television crew appeared to have crossed the river border — either intentionally or not — while trying to get a closer shot of North Korea.
Citing Chinese sources on the border, the newspaper reported that the three U.S. journalists and their Chinese guide, an ethnic Korean, crossed the border around sunrise Tuesday near Tumen, a Chinese border city.
The Tumen River, which forms the border, is only 20 or 30 yards wide in the area, according to human rights advocates who have visited there. Much of the river bed is dry, and the shallow water is frozen at this time of the year. It is difficult to tell where the border lies, and North Korean guards often stay hidden in bunkerlike guard posts, they said.
The two men in the group, Mr. Koss and the guide, who was not identified, freed themselves from the armed North Korean soldiers and ran back to China, while the two women were overpowered, The Chosun Ilbo reported.
Current TV, based in San Francisco, was founded by former Vice President Al Gore.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
SEOUL: North Korea confirmed over the weekend that it had detained two American journalists on charges of "illegally intruding" into the country through its border with China.
The journalists, Laura Ling, a Chinese-American, and Euna Lee, a Korean-American, both working for Current TV, were on a reporting trip along the border when they were detained by North Korean border guards, according to human rights activists and a South Korean news report. Their colleague, Mitch Koss, and their Chinese guide were reported to have been detained by Chinese border guards.
"A competent organ is now investigating the case," the official North Korean news agency, KCNA, said Saturday.
The terse dispatch, which gave no details, was the first confirmation by North Korea of the arrests. On Friday, the State Department said that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was trying to free the two journalists, who had traveled to the border area to report on North Korean refugees in China, according to Chun Ki Won, a Christian clergyman in Seoul who helped arrange their trip.
Their arrest complicates the already thorny relations between the United States and the North, including an increase in tensions over North Korea's plan to launch a satellite between April 4 and April 8. U.S. officials have said they believe that the rocket launching is a cover to ballistic missile technology.
Also Saturday, North Korea told international aviation authorities that it would close two international air routes through its airspace from April 4 to April 8 for the satellite launching, according to the Japanese and South Korean governments.
It remains unclear under what circumstances Ms. Ling and Ms. Lee were detained. The Chosun Ilbo, the leading newspaper in South Korea, reported Saturday that the U.S. television crew appeared to have crossed the river border — either intentionally or not — while trying to get a closer shot of North Korea.
Citing Chinese sources on the border, the newspaper reported that the three U.S. journalists and their Chinese guide, an ethnic Korean, crossed the border around sunrise Tuesday near Tumen, a Chinese border city.
The Tumen River, which forms the border, is only 20 or 30 yards wide in the area, according to human rights advocates who have visited there. Much of the river bed is dry, and the shallow water is frozen at this time of the year. It is difficult to tell where the border lies, and North Korean guards often stay hidden in bunkerlike guard posts, they said.
The two men in the group, Mr. Koss and the guide, who was not identified, freed themselves from the armed North Korean soldiers and ran back to China, while the two women were overpowered, The Chosun Ilbo reported.
Current TV, based in San Francisco, was founded by former Vice President Al Gore.
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