US must not reward attention deficit disorder
North Korea wants to be taken seriously. Its testing of nuclear weapons, firing of missiles and threatening rhetoric towards the US, South Korea and Japan speak of a government seeking credibility. But a country that seizes foreign journalists on questionable accusations, tries them behind closed doors and sentences them to 12 years of hard labour, as it has done with Laura Ling and Euna Lee, clearly does not understand the consequences of its actions. Rather than be treated equally, it can only be condemned.
Its weapons tests are as much for political purposes as defence. Six-nation talks hosted by China to scrap Pyongyang's nuclear programme have all but broken down. US President Barack Obama's administration has not yet dictated a policy towards the isolated regime. Breaking international rules on non-proliferation is a guaranteed way of getting noticed. So, too, is the capturing and imprisonment of journalists reporting on the trafficking of women across the China-North Korea border. Pyongyang claimed they entered the country illegally and performed 'hostile acts'.
Because their trial was not held in open court and foreign observers were barred, there is no way of determining the truth of the accusations. What seems certain, though, is that the two women will be used as bargaining chips for concessions from the US. Americans previously detained by Pyongyang have been freed following apologies from Washington for perceived wrongdoing. With the UN Security Council considering tougher sanctions following last month's nuclear test and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warning at the weekend that North Korea could be put back on Washington's list of terrorist countries, the harsh sentences make the perfect negotiating tool. The US has to resist such pressure.
If the journalists had committed a crime, North Korea should have been willing to give them a fair and open hearing. It has denied them this basic right. To then use their freedom to gain concessions shows just how out of step with the ways of the world Pyongyang is. It can learn a lesson from Iran in this regard; the Islamic nation last month freed on appeal American reporter Roxana Saberi, whom it had jailed for eight years for espionage.
North Korea is eager for talks with the United States outside the six-party framework. Washington would be rewarding bad behaviour by granting its wish. China, as Pyongyang's closest ally, has to do its utmost to get the negotiations back on track. North Korea's only option is to free the journalists and return to the tried and tested process.