Amid nuclear tensions, N. Korea begins trial of 2 American journalists
Accused could become political pawns, analysts say
As international tensions rise over North Korea's recent nuclear test, the country's top court began the trial Thursday of two American journalists accused of engaging in "hostile acts."
If convicted, Laura Ling and Euna Lee — who once worked for former vice-president Al Gore's California-based Current TV — face 10 years in a labour camp.
They were arrested March 17 near the North Korean border while on a reporting trip to China. North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency reported on Thursday the trial would begin at 3 p.m. local time in Pyongyang's Central Court, but hours after that there was no word on the hearing.
As the United Nations and Washington continued talks on how to punish the regime for the May 25 nuclear test, there were fears the women could become political pawns.
A professor of North Korean law at Kyungnam University said the court might convict the women so the government could use them as bargaining chips in negotiations with the U.S.
"The North is likely to release and deport them to the U.S. if negotiations with the U.S. go well," said Choi Eun-suk.
Another analyst said Pyongyang's recent defiance was designed to get U.S. attention because it believes North Korea is a low priority for the Obama administration, said David Straub of Stanford University's Korean studies program.
In the U.S., the reporters' families urged Washington and Pyongyang not to let politics dictate the reporters' fate and pleaded for leniency.
"If at any point they committed a transgression, then our families are deeply, deeply sorry. We know the girls are sorry as well," said Ling's sister, TV journalist Lisa Ling, at a vigil in California Wednesday night.
With files from The Associated Press