News In Brief

N Koreans denied appeal in Burmese bombing case

Burma's supreme court rejected an appeal Thursday against death sentences imposed on two North Korean Army officers for last October's Rangoon bomb blasts which killed 21 people, including four South Korean Cabinet ministers.

The three-member bench, presided over by Justice Hla Phone, said evidence established that Maj. Zin Mo and Capt. Kang Min Chul had committed premeditated murder by blowing up the Martyrs' Memorial here.

Defense lawyers had argued the two men deserved clemency because they were only obeying orders, but the supreme court said this plea was inadmissible.