28 April 2009

Alert

North Korea will try American journalists


Incident details

Laura Ling, Euna Lee

journalist(s)

legal action
(CPJ/IFEX) - New York, April 24, 2009 - The Committee to Protect Journalists expressed concern today after North Korea announced that it would try American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee on unspecified criminal charges, according to international news reports.

The Associated Press reported that a dispatch from the country said the pair would be tried for "confirmed charges" without specifying the nature of those charges or a timetable for the legal proceedings. "The relevant agencies of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea have concluded the investigation of the U.S. journalists," Bloomberg reported the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) as saying today. "They decided to formally bring them to trial, based on their documented crimes."

"We are extremely concerned that Laura Ling and Euna Lee are to be tried on criminal charges for working as journalists," said CPJ Deputy Director Robert Mahoney. "We urge the North Korean authorities to reconsider this decision and release them immediately."

North Korean guards detained Ling and Lee, who work for California-based Current TV, near the country's border with China on March 17. They had been reporting on North Korean immigrants in China, news reports said. KCNA said last month that the two had been arrested on charges of illegally entering the country with the intent to commit "hostile acts," according to CNN.

U.S. officials have acknowledged the detentions and said that the government is working through Sweden because there are no diplomatic relations between the United States and North Korea. State Department acting spokesman Robert Wood told reporters on Friday: "We continue to call on the North Koreans to release the two Americans so they can be returned to their families," according to Agence France-Presse.

CPJ is a New York-based, independent, nonprofit organization that works to safeguard press freedom worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.cpj.org.

Updates the Ling and Lee case: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/102070



Source:

Committee to Protect Journalists
330 7th Ave., 11th Floor
New York, NY 10001
USA
info (@) cpj.org
Phone: +1 212 465 1004
Fax: +1 212 465 9568
 

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From other IFEX members

North Korea Should Take the Lead from Iran and Free American Journalists (IPI)
CPJ calls on Pyongyang to release Euna Lee and Laura Ling (CPJ)

More on this case

Kim Jong-il orders release of U.S. journalists 4 August 2009 Government should grant amnesty to Ling and Lee, says CPJ 20 July 2009 Journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling sentenced to 12 years of hard labour 8 June 2009 Families of journalists Ling, Lee urge talks to resolve detentions 2 June 2009 Two US journalists could face up to 10 years in labour camp if convicted of "illegal entry" and perpetrating "hostile acts" 2 April 2009 American cameraman Mitch Koss released; RSF and the International Women's Media Foundation launch joint petition calling for the release of American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee 30 March 2009 U.S. journalists Laura Ling, Euna Lee and local guide reportedly detained by North Korean border guards 19 March 2009

North Korea

A leading press freedom predator dies 22 December 2011 Kim Jong-il orders release of U.S. journalists 4 August 2009 Government should grant amnesty to Ling and Lee, says CPJ 20 July 2009 Journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling sentenced to 12 years of hard labour 8 June 2009 Families of journalists Ling, Lee urge talks to resolve detentions 2 June 2009 See all alerts: North Korea


 
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