But experts said that based on past experiences the two American journalists sentenced to 12 years in a North Korean labor prison probably won’t see this side of the nation’s notoriously brutal gulag. The reporters — Laura Ling and Euna Lee — will likely be kept apart from North Korean inmates as negotiators try to cut a deal for their release.
The Americans would likely be sent to a prison in Sariwon, about 58 kilometers (36 miles) south of Pyongyang, said the defector, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitive nature of his job. The Sariwon prison usually houses purged party members, he said.