JOIN USNorth Korea has been ratcheting up regional tensions since it fired a long-range rocket over Japan in April, and on Thursday the hermit state put two female US journalists on trial accused of illegally entering its territory with “hostile intent”.
Analysts say the pair, who were working for the Current TV network co-founded by former US vice-president Al Gore, has become bargaining chips in high-stakes talks with the US, which has long sought to end the North’s nuclear ambitions.
In a separate move on Friday, North Korea proposed talks with the South over a joint factory enclave that is the only major link between the rival states, more than a month after the last attempt at dialogue broke down in acrimony.
South Korea accepted the proposal for a June 11 meeting over the Kaesong park just inside the communist state, where about 100 South Korean firms use cheap North Korean labour and land to make goods, a Unification Ministry official said.