March 11, 2010  Print Email | North Korea grills detained US journalists
Journalists held for illegal intrusion
Posted by Agencies at 09:26 AM GMT on Mar 24, 2009 | SEOUL (AFP): Intelligence officials in the communist North are questioning the two female US journalists captured on the border and are likely try to persuade them to confess to spying, a South Korean daily said today.
 The JoongAng Ilbo, quoting a Seoul intelligence source, said the pair were transported to a top-security guest-house on the outskirts of Pyongyang a day after they were seized before dawn on March 17.
South Korea's National Intelligence Service declined to comment and an analyst said he doubted whether the pair would be charged with spying.
The incident gives the North a diplomatic playing card at a time when tensions are high over its plan to launch a communications satellite early next month, analysts said.
The United States and its allies say the launch is a pretext for a long-range missile test.
The communist North has acknowledged it is holding the journalists for "illegally intruding" into its territory by crossing the border with China. JoongAng said the women walked across the frozen Tumen river marking the northeastern border at 3:00 am while filming a programme on people who flee the impoverished state.
It said they were immediately arrested by North Korean soldiers. Their case was reported to the Defence Security Command and to the Ninth Army Corps based in the northeastern province of North Hamkyong.
"The questioning is likely to focus on having the two journalists confess to committing espionage," the paper quoted its source as saying. "The North will painstakingly prepare for a tug-of-war with the US, videotaping the entire interviews with the two."
The journalists, identified as Euna Lee, a Korean-American, and Laura Ling, a Chinese-American, work for Current TV in California.
Baek Seung-Joo, an analyst with the Korea Institute for Defence Analyses, said the North would use the incident as a chance to improve its image with Washington. "It's quite unlikely that the North will stamp them with espionage charges for simply trying to get into its territory on a journalistic urge," Baek told AFP.
If the two were really being accommodated in a guest-house, it would bode well for them, he said. "It is quite rare for anyone caught for illegal entry to be put in a guest-house. By treating them well and releasing them at an early date, the North will turn this case into a chance to expand contacts with the Obama administration," Baek said.
JoongAng also quoted a source as predicting that while the North may seek a taped admission of "spying," the pair are likely to be freed as a goodwill gesture.
Another source said it was unlikely they would be physically harmed.
"As I said Friday, we're working this diplomatically, and I think the less that I can say, the less I say from here, the better," US State Department spokesman Robert Wood said yesterday.
North Korea is one of the world's most isolated countries. Journalists must obtain special visas and are accompanied by official guides. Few such visits have been allowed in recent years.
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