Reporters' families seek mercy from North Korea

SEOUL (Reuters) - Relatives of two U.S. journalists sentenced to 12 years hard labor in North Korea called on the reclusive state to show compassion, while Pyongyang threatened to use nuclear weapons if outside countries invade.

Monday's harsh sentence of the two women by a North Korean court deepened tensions between Pyongyang and Washington triggered by North Korea's nuclear test in May, which put it closer to having a working atomic bomb.

Efforts by the United States and Japan to expand sanctions to punish North Korea for the test failed to produce a deal on Tuesday in the U.N. Security Council, where China and Russia have not wanted to provoke Pyongyang.

Several diplomats close to talks between the five permanent Security Council members, Japan and non-council member South Korea dismissed news reports that the seven countries had reached an agreement on a draft sanctions resolution.

"We continue to engage in intense and productive negotiations," U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said. "We're making progress, but we're not done yet."

The council has been considering measures to clamp down on the hardline Communist country's arms trade and finances.

North Korea appeared ready to increase tensions further by preparing for tests of a long-range missile that could reach U.S. territory and mid-range missiles capable of striking anywhere in South Korea and in most of Japan, officials say.

ANOTHER MISSILE LAUNCH PLANNED?

In Moscow, a Russian Foreign Ministry source reported signs North Korea was preparing to launch new missiles, Interfax news agency said. "Information is coming to us that there are signs of preparations for the launch of missiles," the source said.

The source, who was not identified, could add no details on timing of any launch or the type of missile.

A North Korean newspaper said the country had a nuclear deterrent to maintain peace in the region while warning: "it will be a means of merciless offensive of just retaliatory attack to those who damage our pride and sovereignty."

Markets have largely shrugged off the North's actions, and analysts say it would take a military clash at sea or on the border to have a major impact on global markets.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said 30 interceptor missiles already in silos or under construction in Alaska and California were "fully adequate" to protect the United States.

"I have confidence that if North Korea launched a long-range missile in the direction of the United States, we would have a high probability of being able to defend ourselves against it," Gates told the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense on Tuesday.

BARGAINING CHIPS

Analysts said Pyongyang was using the detained journalists as bargaining chips with Washington, which for years has tried to use sweeteners in return for Pyongyang reducing the security threat it poses to the North Asia region, responsible for one-sixth of the world's economy.

"We ask the government of North Korea to show compassion and grant Laura and Euna clemency and allow them to return home to their families," relatives of Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who work for U.S. media outlet Current TV, said in a statement.

The two, in their 30s, were arrested in March near the China-North Korea border while working on a story for the media company, co-founded by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore.

The North convicted them of "grave crimes," saying they illegally entered the country, but details of their arrest, including where they were detained, are still sketchy. Relatives have appealed for support on U.S. television shows.

Human rights groups and defectors have said the North maintains a network of prisons where inmates are overworked and underfed and brutality is the norm.

In Washington, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the journalists' fate should not be linked to the dispute over Pyongyang's nuclear program.

In a sign of growing tension, a South Korean fur coat maker became the first firm to pull out of a joint industrial complex in North Korea that was once a symbol of economic cooperation but has turned into a point of conflict.

Experts said the North may have enough fissile material for up to eight bombs but has not shown that it has developed a working nuclear weapon. It is also likely several years away from miniaturizing an atomic weapon to mount on a warhead.

Analysts said the military grandstanding may be primarily aimed at the internal audience to help leader Kim Jong-il, who is believed to have suffered a stroke last year, arrange for eventual succession in Asia's only Communist dynasty for his youngest son, Swiss-educated Jong-un.

Adding to the mystery of a change of leadership in one of the world's most secretive states, Kim's sister, Kim Kyong-hui, made a rare public appearance when the North's state media reported this week that she went to the opera with her brother.

The last time state media said she appeared in public was about six years ago, the South's Unification Ministry said. Kim's oldest son Jong-nam told Japanese broadcasters this week from his home in Macau that his father favors Jong-un and that is why he may be the next leader.

(Additional reporting by Jack Kim and Kim Junghyun in Seoul, Chris Buckley in Beijing, Louis Charbonneau at the United Nations and Caren Bohan in Washington; Editing by Richard Balmforth and Anthony Boadle)