North Korea's highest court has convicted two American journalists, sentencing them to 12 years of hard labour.  How will the move affect the already tense standoff between the West and Pyongyang  over North Korea's nuclear provocations?

Listen to interview with ICG's Daniel Pinkston

The reclusive North Korean regime has convicted two American journalists of illegally entering the country.  Euna Lee and Laura Ling were both found guilty on Monday and were sentenced to 12 years of "reform through labour" at one of North Korea's notoriously harsh prison camps.  Some believe the two journalists will be used in an attempt by North Korea to force bilateral negotiations with Washington.

Euna Lee and Laura Ling work for California based Current T.V., which is chaired by former US Vice President Al Gore.  On 17 March, the two journalists were filming for a report on trafficking of women, near China's border with North Korea, when they were arrested by North Korean security officials.  It is not clear whether the journalists were actually in North Korea, or whether over zealous North Korean security personel crossed into Chinese territory.

Increased defiance
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the charges leveled against the journalists baseless and stated that Pyongyang should release Ms Lee and Ms Ling.  Secretary Clinton also said that the US is considering placing North Korea back on the terrorism black list.  Nevertheless, in recent months, North Korea has been defiant, testing a long-range missile on 5 April and conducting an underground nuclear test on 25 May.  Daniel Pinkston, Deputy Director for the North East Asia project at the International Crisis Group, says securing the release of the two journalists will not be easy:

"They [the North Koreans] seem to be entering a period of transition or succession politics.  So, everyone in Pyongyang has an incentive to take a hardline...  I don't think North Korea is going to release these women until they see there's a path to improvement of bilateral relations with the United States."

Rewarding bad behaviour
North Korea has a history of brinksmanship in international relations, tending to exacerbate tensions in an attempt to secure a more advantageous negotiating position.  It remains to be seen if Pyongyang will use the pair of journalists as pawns in their current stalemate with the West, but some critics are beginning to complain that giving in to the North's demands sends the wrong signal to the regime.  Mr Pinkston says these types of situations often necessitate give and take:

"You don't want to reward bad behaviour but, on the other hand, you have a humanitarian situation.  If you put yourself in the position of those journalists or their families,  you want to do everything you can within reason to secure their release... Sometimes, you have to make compromises..."
 

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