Lee and Ling’s trial set for June 4th

Euna Lee and Laura Ling will be put on trial June 4 on charges of illegal entry and "hostile acts" ,

In announcing the trial date, the North’s state-run news agency, KCNA, gave no further details, such as what charges they faced. But Pyongyang had earlier said that it found evidence of illegal entry and unspecified hostile acts.

Under North Korea’s criminal code, a person convicted of hostile acts against the state can face at least five years in labor camps. Illegal entry carries a sentence of up to three years in labor camps.

Let’s hope they are bluffing and the outcome will be similar to Roxana’s!

The trial comes amid hightened tension between North Korea and the United States after the North launched a long-range rocket on April 5. The United States pressed the United Nations Security Council to call for tightened sanctions on the North.

In retaliation, Pyongyang expelled United Nations nuclear monitors, and threatened to restart a plant that makes bomb-grade plutonium and to conduct a nuclear test.

News of the trial date came just days after Iran released an Iranian-American journalist sentenced to eight years in prison on charges of spying for the United States. The journalist, Roxana Saberi, was released Monday after an appeals court reduced her original sentence to a two-year suspended sentence.

Source NY Times