The sentence of twelve years in a labour camp (or "re-education centre", as some would call it) for two American journalists has the United States in a bind. What can be done to release them?
- a complete collapse or change of the regime would free the two women and all the other prisoners in the camps. This is unlikely at present.
- bribery: giving North Korea whatever money, weapons, status or other goods it wants
- legal intervention: an independent legal team should demand to study North Korean penal law concerning illegal entry, as well as the court documents of the "trial". The legal team should also speak with the two journalists' representation and the women themselves. The Red Cross should be able to accompany the women to wherever they are being held to ensure they are being well-treated. Their lawyers should be able to regularly visit them in case of an appeal.
- military intervention: all ships, trucks, trains and missiles should be intercepted until the women are released.
Of the options listed, I believe only the second one would materialise, assuming the US cares about these women or the fate of any prisoner in North Korea.
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