North Korean Court Sentenced two U.S. journalists, Laura Ling & Euna Lee to 12 Years in a Labor Camp

North Korean Kin Jong Il dictator continues to play a game of chicken with the United States and the Obama Administration. A North Korean court has sentenced two US journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, to 12 years in a labor camp. The trail of Laura Ling and Euna Lee lasted 5 days where outside observers were not allowed to attend. Laura Ling and Euna Lee were accused of “grave crime” committed against the Korean nation and their illegal border crossing.

Euna Lee and Laura Ling

A North Korean court sentenced two U.S. journalists to 12 years in a labor camp Monday, as the government of Kim Jong Il continued to ratchet up tension with the United States and its neighbors.

Laura Ling and Euna Lee, television reporters detained in March along North Korea’s border with China, received harsher sentences than many outsiders had expected. But several experts in South Korea predicted that talks will begin soon to negotiate their release.

The U.S. government said it was “deeply concerned.”

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has stated the charges against the two were baseless and also that the United States is considering putting North Korea back on its terrorism blacklist following its nuclear test. One wonders why they were ever taken off the list in the first place.

Laura Ling and Euna Lee were detained by North Korean border guards on March 17, 2009 along the Tumen River, which marks the North Korean border with China.

The Jawa Report has pretty much nailed the reason why North Korea and Kim Jong Il are making such a big deal of the poker chips they were handed. Kim Jong-Il wants the attention and is looking for a payoff for the two journalists in order to free them.

The last American to enter North Korea uninvited was a young man named Evan Carl Hunziker.

The last American to enter uninvited was a troubled young man named Evan Carl Hunziker, who swam across the river dividing the country from China while drunk and remained there for five weeks. He was only released after Bill Richardson, the Governor of New Mexico who was then a US Congressman, travelled to North Korea with a $5,000 “accommodation fee”. Mr Hunziker shot himself dead a month later after falling into depression.