Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Swedish Ambassador to North Korea Visits Euna Lee and Laura Ling

Euna Lee and Laura Ling, the two detained American journalists in North Korea, were visited by the Swedish ambassador in Pyongyang, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said in Washington.

The United States has not received a full report on the meeting from Mats Foyer, the ambassador, Kelly said. He reiterated that Washington continues to press Kim Jong Il’s regime to release the pair.

Sweden represents U.S. interests in North Korea in the absence of diplomatic relations.

The two women were abducted along the Chinese border on March 17 while reporting for Current TV, co-founded by former Vice President Al Gore, on the human trafficking of women. They were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for "hostile acts," presumably crossing the border. Diplomats in Beijing have said that it is questionable that the pair actually crossed the border.

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