Geopolitical Monitor - Africa

April 24, 2009 (AFP) - North Korea has announced that two detained female US journalists will stand trial for unspecified crimes, in a move seen by analysts as pressuring Washington for direct dialogue.

"A competent organ of the DPRK (North Korea) concluded the investigation into the journalists of the United States," the official Korean Central News Agency said.

"The organ formally decided to refer them to a trial on the basis of the confirmed crimes committed by them."

Euna Lee, a Korean-American, and Laura Ling, a Chinese-American, were detained before dawn on March 17 along the narrow Tumen River, which marks the border with China.

The pair, who work for Current TV in California, were working on a story about refugees fleeing the hardline communist North.

The North's state media announced earlier this month it would put them on trial for "hostile acts" and illegally entering the country.

"If convicted of hostile acts, the accused would be sentenced to a minimum five years in jail and hard labour," Baek Seung-Joo, of the Korea Institute for Defence Analyses, told AFP.

"By bringing them to justice, the North is putting pressure on Washington to come to the dialogue table."

Paik Hak-Soon, of the Sejong Institute think-tank, said North Korea was likely to bring spying charges against the pair.

"This means that Pyongyang will actively use them as playing cards to put pressure on Washington to engage in direct negotiations with the North."

Paik said Pyongyang's initial hopes for policy change under the Barack Obama administration were giving way to disappointment and anger following US and UN condemnation of its April 5 rocket launch.

The North reacted angrily to the rebuke, announcing last week that it has abandoned six-party disarmament talks and would restart its nuclear weapons programmes.

Pyongyang says the rocket put a satellite into orbit, but the United States and its allies believe it was a disguised long-range missile test.

"This case may help ease the opening of direct talks between Washington and Pyongyang as Washington can find an excuse... to come to the direct dialogue table in securing the safety of its nationals," Paik said.

Yang Moo-Jin, of the University of North Korean Studies, said the two were expected to remain detained until Washington and Pyongyang strike a political deal.

Washington has no diplomatic ties with Pyongyang and the Swedish embassy is representing its interests.

Rights groups have urged the North to release the pair.

Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF, Reporters Without Borders), an international media freedom group, has said it was "by no means clear" the women were on North Korean territory when they were detained by its border guards.

Amnesty International has also appealed for their release, saying it was highly unlikely they would receive a fair trial given the judicial system's "total lack of independence or transparency" in North Korea.

Seoul newspaper JoongAng Ilbo has reported that the pair were transported to a top-security guesthouse on the outskirts of Pyongyang a day after they were seized.

Pyongyang has in the past freed detained Americans but only after diplomatic intervention.

In 1996, US congressman Bill Richardson negotiated the release of US citizen Evan Hunziker, who had been detained for three months on suspicion of spying after swimming the Yalu river.

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.

Tags:  Military - Politics - Covert Ops - Asia - East - United States - Korea, Democratic People's Republic of