SAN FRANCISCO/NORTH KOREA—There has been no break for the two female journalists who have been held in North Korea for over one month. First detained on March 17, the American women (both of Asian descent) work for the San Francisco outlet, Current TV.
Laura Ling and Euna Lee reportedly have not been abused, though it has also been made clear that North Korean officials intend to try the two women for unnamed crimes. There are reports that Swedish officials have been working on behalf of the United States to help secure the Americans' freedom.
The two women were reported as being apprehended while working on a story about refugees between the North Korean and Chinese border. It is unclear under what exactly what circumstances officials arrested them.
As of Friday, word came that the North Korean government intended to put Lee and Ling on trial for what were classified as "hostile acts." No specific dates for the trial have been publicly set, though if one or either of the women are convicted on said charges, in North Korea, that could translate to up to years of jail time or time in what are called labor camps.
The Korean Central News Agency, the official state-sponsored news agency of North Korean, has briefly reported the basics of this ongoing situation. On March 21, the KNCA reported " Two Americans were detained on March 17 while illegally intruding into the territory of the DPRK by crossing the DPRK-China border. A competent organ is now investigating the case."
The state-sanctioned news agency has been questioned for its objectiveness, with recent headlines such as ""U.S. Undisguised Scenario for Hegemony Flayed
," "Lee Myung Bak Urged to Drop Bitternes Against Compatriots" and"Ever-victorious DPRK Led by Great Brilliant Commander."
The KCNA publishes pieces that include such statements as "the threat to the Asian region is not posed by someone else but the U.S. The concentration is a revelation of the U.S. undisguised scenario to perpetuate the presence of the U.S. imperialist aggressors in south Korea and realize its ambition to dominate the Asia-Pacific region,"
" The U.S. imperialists' high-handed policy of aggression towards the DPRK is a product of their ambition to invade the DPRK" and
frequent references to United States officials as "U.S. imperialists."
A representative in Current TV Chief Operating Officer Joanna Drake Earl's office informed San Francisco News that no comment could be made on the situation, as of press time.
