Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she is doing everything she can to secure the release of the two American journalists who were convicted in North Korea Monday morning.
At a State Department press conference, Clinton said she is pursuing “all possible ways” and going through “all possible channels” to bring Laura Ling and Euna Lee back to the U.S. After being arrested in March, they were convicted and sentenced to 12 years in a North Korean labor camp Monday morning.
Clinton also emphasized that she is drawing a line between this situation and the U.S.’s increasing dissatisfaction with North Korea over its development of nuclear weapons.
“We view these as entirely separate matters,” she said. “We think the imprisonment, trial and sentencing
[of] Laura and Euna should be viewed as a humanitarian matter.”