Journalists Freed

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American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee express their thanks and gratitude to President Clinton and his team for securing their release from North Korea. The women were jailed for four months for allegedly entering the country illegally. (Aug. 5)

Associated Press

Thursday, June 11, 2009

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: This is a fact, North Korean forced labor camps are hell, maybe even worse than hell. And that is what two American women journalists face right now. They've been sentenced to 12 years in a North Korean hard labor camp for what the communist nation calls an illegal border crossing and a grave crime against North Korea.

In the documentary film "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTragUC8AnY, the Flower of Kim Jong-il," survivors of North Korean prison camps talk about the horror they went through.

foxnews.com/story/0,2933,525795,00

[Hots on for nowhere]

slik willy does it again

[pagemccartney95]

I'm just glad they're ok. Things could've gone badly for them.

,

Jo

[LedZepChick]

Awesome news, indeed. I'm so glad they got home safely.

[Aquamarine]

Me too.

And Bill Clinton had nothing to do with the negotiations, they were all done by the Sec. of State and the State department, etc.--the Koreans wanted a big-name figurehead, such as a former president, to play the formal role in the proceedings, he volunteered. I don't think there's any reason for anything except praise for all those who got the women released in such a peaceful manner.

[~tangerine~]

I was very happy to hear about this news, too! I was so worried for them when they were first imprisoned.... great job to all who helped bring them back home!

I don't understand why anyone who doesn't need to be in the vicinity of dangerous places travel there.... obviously more adventurous than me.

Now we need to pray for these guys: http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=...&id=6943489

[ZeppFanForever]

Me too.

And Bill Clinton had nothing to do with the negotiations, they were all done by the Sec. of State and the State department, etc.--the Koreans wanted a big-name figurehead, such as a former president, to play the formal role in the proceedings, he volunteered. I don't think there's any reason for anything except praise for all those who got the women released in such a peaceful manner.

How's it going "Aquamarine?" I hope all is well with you. I heard the same thing that Bill Clinton had nothing to do with the negotiations. If anything, I'd be more worried about leaving those women alone with Bill Clinton. Ha Ha! ROCK ON!

[ninelives]

Great news indeed!

[eternal light]

I was very happy to hear about this news, too! I was so worried for them when they were first imprisoned.... great job to all who helped bring them back home!

I don't understand why anyone who doesn't need to be in the vicinity of dangerous places travel there.... obviously more adventurous than me.

Now we need to pray for these guys: http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=...&id=6943489

They believed themselves to be on the Chinese side of the border.

Also, North Korea is reported to be kidnapping people from South Korea.

Welcome to North Korea by Peter Tetteroo and Raymond Feddema / Documentary Educational Video

travelnotes.org/Asia/nth_korea

[redrum]

I just read the book 'I Was A Slave In Russia' by American John Noble (1958)

He did almost 10 years in the gulag.

These girls should thank their lucky stars.

[kirchzep27]

Wow that was great. that was so emotional to hear about it from them...walking into the room and seeing -bill clinton.

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Former US President Bill Clinton leaves North Korea with two journalists

[SteveAJones]

I don't understand why anyone who doesn't need to be in the vicinity of dangerous places travel there.... obviously more adventurous than me.

...perhaps just to say we've been there and done that:

^^^

Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) / North Korean Border

Photo Credit: Steve A. Jones

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dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk00100&num=4295

100,000 Prisoners Detained in "No. 18 Political Prison Camp"

By Kim So Yeol

2008-11-19 16:17

On March 17, 2009, North Korean border guards detained two American journalists, Euna Lee and Laura Ling, who were working for the U.S. independent cable television network

Current TV, after they crossed into North Korea from the People's Republic of China without a visa. They were found guilty of illegal entry and sentenced to twelve years hard labor in June 2009. North Korean leader Kim Jong-il pardoned the two on August 5, 2009, the day after former U.S. President Bill Clinton arrived in the country on a surprise visit.

Korean American Euna Lee and Chinese American Laura Ling are journalists for Current TV, based in San Francisco, California. Lee is the news editor of the channel and Ling is one of the agency's reporters. Laura Ling is the younger sister of Lisa Ling, a special correspondent for The Oprah Winfrey Show and CNN, who did a documentary in 2005 for National Geographic Explorer about North Korea which involved entry into North Korea without disclosing she was a journalist. The two reporters were accompanied by two men, an American cameraman and a South Korean guide. When the four were approached, the two men were able to cross back into China and were not arrested by North Korean officials.

Pastor Chun Ki-won of refugee aid organization Durihana, who was interviewed in the 2005 National Geographic documentary "Inside North Korea", had helped Lee and Ling organize their trip to China. After their arrival in China, Chun introduced Lee and Ling to Kim Seong-cheol (김성철), an ethnic Korean citizen of China guide who would escort the two reporters during their work. Chun warned the reporters to avoid the border area.

An unnamed diplomatic source was quoted by South Korea's Yonhap news agency on March 18 as stating: "Two reporters working for a US-based Internet news media outlet, including a Korean American, were detained by North Korean authorities earlier this week, and they remain in custody there." Reports said that the journalists were both warned several times by the North Korean military about crossing the border. They were said to have been reporting on the trafficking of women and shooting video of the border region of China and North Korea when they were arrested at the Tumen River. Their guide Kim Seong-cheol and cameraman Mitch Koss evaded capture by running away faster but were later detained by officers of China's Public Security Bureau. Koss departed China soon afterwards.

Source: wiki

Tumen River

The Tumen River which runs between Tumen, China and North Korea... later I found out that videotaping North Korea is illegal (whoops!)

And on a side note...

Mecca for North Korean Hackers

By Jung Kwon Ho2009-07-13 16:14

dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk01500&num=5161

Shenyang, China -- Moranbong University, which is directly managed by the Operations Department of the Workers¡¯ Party, is said to be leading technical developments in cyber war against foreign countries.

A North Korean source said in a telephone interview with Daily NK on the 10th, ¡°I heard that the U.S. and South Korea were attacked. If it were confirmed that North Korea was responsible, it would have been by the graduates of Moranbong University.¡±

One of the most intriguing stories to come out of North Korea is that of Joe Dresnok, a former US soldier, who defected to the secretive state more than 45 years ago.

Al Jazeera's Mark Seddon spoke to Dresnok in a rare interview in Pyongyang.

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Undercover In The Secret State North Korea

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North Korean Killing Fields 1

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news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090902/ap_on_re_us/us_nkorea_journalists_freed

By LISA LEFF and HYUNG-JIN KIM, Associated Press Writer Lisa Leff And Hyung-jin Kim, Associated Press Writer

– 21 mins ago

SAN FRANCISCO – Two American television reporters imprisoned in North Korea for months say communist soldiers "violently dragged" them back when they returned to Chinese soil after briefly crossing into the reclusive country.

In an article posted Tuesday on Current TV's Web site, Laura Ling and Euna Lee said they hesitantly followed their guide when he beckoned them across a frozen river into the North and were "firmly back" on the Chinese side when North Korean border guards grabbed them on March 17.

"We tried with all our might to cling to bushes, ground, anything that would keep us on Chinese soil, but we were no match for the determined soldiers," the journalists wrote in their most thorough account of the circumstances of their arrest. "They violently dragged us back across the ice to North Korea and marched us to a nearby army base, where we were detained."

At the time of their arrest, the two were reporting a story for San Francisco-based Current TV about North Korean women who were forced into the sex trade or arranged marriages when they defected to China. After their capture, Lee and Ling were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for trespassing and "hostile acts" against North Korea.

The women were moved to a Pyongyang guesthouse and held there until the North pardoned them in early August after a landmark trip to Pyongyang by former President Bill Clinton.

The release helped ease rising tension on the Korean peninsula following North Korea's defiant nuclear and missile tests earlier this year. Since then, the regime has taken a series of conciliatory steps toward Seoul and Washington such as the release of five detained South Koreans and agreeing to restart stalled joint projects with South Korea.

The journalists said they "didn't spend more than a minute on North Korean soil before turning back" to the Chinese side, and recalled there were no signs marking the international border at the area.

Lee and Ling suggested they might have been lured into crossing the border by their Korean-Chinese guide.

"To this day, we still don't know if we were lured into a trap," the two wrote. "In retrospect, the guide behaved oddly, changing our starting point on the river at the last moment and donning a Chinese police overcoat for the crossing, measures we assumed were security precautions."

At the riverbank on the North Korean side, the guide pointed out a small village in the distance where he said North Koreans were waiting in safe houses to be smuggled into China, the journalists said. But they said they quickly turned back to China as they felt nervous about where they were.

The journalists acknowledged it was "ultimately our decision" to follow their guide. The guide and Current TV producer Mitch Koss were able to escape at the time of arrest.

Ling and Lee said while they were in detention, they swallowed their notes, damaged their videotapes and made other efforts to protect the identities of their sources.

They said they regretted if any of their actions led to increased scrutiny of activists and North Koreans living along the border.

The two said some parts of their captivity were too painful to revisit publicly, but their experiences "pale when compared to the hardship facing so many people living in North Korea or as illegal immigrants in China."

"We continue to cope with tremendous mental and emotional anguish, but we feel incredibly fortunate to be free and reunited with our families," they said.