YONHAP NEWS

(LEAD) Clinton urges N. Korea to release U.S. reporters

   (ATTN: UPDATES with more details, background throughout)
By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, June 5 (Yonhap) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Friday urged North Korea to free two American journalists held for alleged illegal entry while on a reporting tour.

   "We call again on the North Korean government to release them and enable them to come home as soon as possible," Clinton told reporters in a joint press conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

   It was the second time in as many days that she has called on the reclusive North to release Euna Lee and Laura Ling, reporters for Current TV, a San Francisco-based Internet news outlet, who were taken into custody along the Chinese border with North Korea on March 17 while working on a story about North Korean refugees.

   The top U.S. diplomat also told a Fox News program late Thursday that "We are clear in our position that the charges against these two young women should have never been brought. They should be released."

   On the reports that former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, chairman of Current TV, may fly to North Korea soon to negotiate the release of the two American journalists, Clinton said, "We have explored other approaches, including the use of special representatives strictly for this humanitarian mission."

   "But as things stand now, we know that they're in the middle of a trial in Pyongyang, and we hope that the trial is resolved quickly and that the young women are released," Clinton said.

   Gore is believed to be the right man for the role once played by New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, then a U.S. congressman, who visited Pyongyang to successfully negotiate the release of two Americans in 1994 and 1996.

   Scott Snyder, director of the Center for U.S.-Korea Policy at the Asia Foundation, however, said it may take a little longer this time as North Korea "may not be conducting business as usual given the internal focus on political succession."

   Allegations are that North Korea's ailing leader, Kim Jong-il, has been engaged in a series of provocations since the inauguration of Obama in January in an apparent move to ensure a smooth power transition to his third and youngest son, Kim Jong-un.

   Kim Jong-il is said to have sent out notifications of Jong-un's succession soon after the second nuclear test late last month, apparently due to his weakening health after a reported stroke last summer.

   Clinton urged North Korea to return to six-party talks on ending its nuclear ambitions.
"We, along with other neighbors in northeast Asia as well as the international community, stand ready to resume negotiations with the North Koreans over their nuclear program," she said.

   The multilateral nuclear talks are on the verge of collapse as North Korea apparently seeks bilateral negotiations with the U.S. on its nuclear and missile programs.

   Clinton, meanwhile, hoped the U.N. Security Council will soon adopt a resolution to condemn North Korea for its nuclear test.

   "Our goal remains to have a denuclearized Korean peninsula," she said. "So I am quite heartened by the progress that we're seeing in the United Nations Security Council. And when we believe we've gotten the strongest possible resolution we can get, we will table it and then proceed."

   Emerging from a meeting with Clinton, South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan said he expected the Security Council would be able to agree by early next week on the level of sanctions to be imposed, including arms embargoes and financial sanctions.
North Korea said Thursday that the trial for the American journalists would begin at 3 p.m. Thursday (Korean time), without elaborating.

   The Swedish ambassador in Pyongyang, Mats Foyer, who handles consular affairs involving American citizens in North Korea, was denied access to the trial, although he has met with the journalists three times each since their detention, according to U.S. officials.

   Lee and Ling face up to 10 years in prison if convicted of illegal entry and "hostile acts."

   hdh@yna.co.kr
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