Zeack News

New York, Jun 9 : A leading American newspaper has asked the Obama administration to vigorously work with the few diplomatic levers available to get the release of two US journalists sentenced to 12 years in jail in North Korea.

"It should urge China, North Korea's main food and fuel supplier, to speak up for the two journalists and send an American envoy to make the case directly in Pyongyang," The New York Times said in an editorial.



Failing to free journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling would only worsen relations with President Barack Obama, who came into office committed to reviving negotiations, and add to growing calls in Washington and around the world for tougher sanctions, the paper said.



Asking for their immediate release, the Times said, "After an imprisonment of nearly three months in one of the world's most inhumane gulags, they have already paid a huge and unfair price for doing their job." Calling North Korea's justice system "bankrupt", the Times said "Whatever the case, they do not deserve to be sent to a brutal labour camp where, according to international human rights activists and North Korean defectors, detainees endure beatings, hunger and inhumane workloads."