Journalists Face Trial in North Korea

And tensions remain high on the Korean peninsula. North Korea is putting two U.S. journalists on trial for illegal entry while U.S. and South Korean officials are in high level talks.

The United States and South Korea are holding high-level talks on North Korea, as two U.S. journalists held by Pyongyang for illegal entry face trial in the hermit state. The trial has added to Pyongyang's tensions with the U.S. in the wake of last week's nuclear test. North Korea says the two American journalists illegally entered with "hostile intent." Euna Lee and Laura Ling of U.S. media outlet Current TV will be tried at one of the North's highest courts. U.S. special envoy on North Korea Stephen Bosworth was tight-lipped about the trial. [Stephen Bosworth, U.S. Envoy to North Korea]: "No comment. We hope they are released. We don't know." Experts say a guilty verdict is certain and the two, captured on North Korea's border with China in March, are likely to become bargaining chips in high-stake negotiations with the United States. North Korea, which rekindled regional tensions when it fired a long-range rocket over Japan in April, also test-fired a barrage of short-range missiles last week and threatened to attack the South. A South Korean newspaper reported that Pyongyang was preparing another long-range missile launch, while the U.S. and South Korea continued to seek a "common strategy" in dealing with the North. U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg met with South Korean president Lee Myung-bak and Prime Minister Han Seung-soo separately in Seoul in a bid to cement bilateral ties.

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