Free Republic

Don't fall for North Korea's trap -- Rogue states are using US reporters as pawns. -- Only swift retribution will stop the cynical game. -- By Allan Richarz from the June 8, 2009 edition Print this Letter to the Editor Republish -- KANNAMACHI, JAPAN - With North Korea's conviction and sentencing of two American journalists today to 12 years of prison labor, reporters have again been used as proxies in a cynical game waged by rogue states to gain leverage in negotiations with the West. This follows on the heels of now-freed Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi, who was released last...

Two US women journalists will go on trial in North Korea's highest court Thursday on charges that could send them to a labour camp, amid growing international tensions sparked by Pyongyang's nuclear test. The pair were detained by North Korean border guards on March 17 along the narrow Tumen River which marks the border with China, while researching a story about refugees fleeing the hardline communist state. Pyongyang has said they will face trial for "hostile acts" and illegally entering the country, with the hearing to be held "on the basis of the confirmed crimes committed by them." South Korean...