We released this statement today after a North Korean court found U.S. journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling guilty of entering the country illegally and carrying out hostile acts, sentencing the Current TV reporters to terms of 12 years hard labor.
“Euna Lee and Laura Ling are journalists who were doing their jobs reporting on an important humanitarian story. It is deplorable that they have been tried as criminals and sentenced so harshly,” said Bob Dietz, CPJ Asia program coordinator. “We fear that their detention is linked to the ongoing security situation on the Korean Peninsula and we call on all parties to the Six Party Talks–North and South Korea, China, Japan, Russia, and the United States–to work together for their release.”