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SF Murder #44
CurrentTV journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who were detained for illegally crossing the North Korean border and accused of "hostile acts," are set to go on trial on Thursday. They were working on a documentary about the sad stories about North Korean refugees fleeing to China. If convicted, they could spend up to ten years in a North Korean boot camp. Al Gore, a partner at Current, has been working closely with the State Department to get the women released, and the Swedish Mission at the United Nations has been serving as an intermediary.
Although it's been advised that the less said publicly the better for fear of antagonizing Pyongyang, Ling and Lee's families have decided to speak out next week. On Monday, Laura Ling's sister Lisa Ling will be appearing on the 7 a.m. block of The Today Show (NBC), on the Larry King show (CNN) at 6 p.m. PST (9 p.m., EST), and on Anderson Cooper on Wednesday.
Ling and Lee are being kept separately in either a government guest house or a hotel outside of Pyongyang and have been allowed to make limited phone calls, which can be interpreted as a good sign that they're not being physically abused. Lisa Ling also received a letter from Laura on May 15, which can be read on the Facebook page that Ling and Lee's families have set up. They also have a blog with up-to-date news on the case, as well as a YouTube photo montage of the two women.
The families are asking people to sign their petition, which will be going to the United Nations. There will also be vigils in various cities across the country on Wednesday evening, including San Francisco, at the steps of City Hall from 6 to 8 p.m.
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I'm not speaking out in favor of the Crackhead Republic of N Korea here, but the US regularly hold immigration detainees for months without a trial. I'm only going to get pissed off about this if they are convicted of something and not immediately deported.
Sorry, but these two went into an area pretty well known for a total lack of basic human rights. Their dictator in chief is a wack job, the country is paranoid on a level not seen since the cold war and they put themselves in harms way. Intentionally.
It's not like they were picked up at LAX or SFO - they were on the border of North freaking Korea. Enjoy your time in the pokey and don't bend over to pick up the soap. Idiots.
Journalism is not about reporting hearsay from across the Pacific Ocean. Of course they intentionally put themselves in harm's way. Some might argue that as investigative reporters, that's their job.
"Enjoy your time in the pokey" is an awfully cavalier statement about someone else's extremely dangerous, and probably terrifying, situation. Punishment for bad behavior in a North Korean detention camp is execution by firing squad. No one, least of all a journalist intending to enlighten their American audience about the blatant human rights violations in North Korea, deserves that.
I'm gonna go out on a limb here and assume that "time in the pokey" is your clever way of being way too hip for your own good when describing a situation where two people might spend the next 10 years in a North Korean Labor Camp which is pretty much unlike anything you have ever even considered in your life.
In the US, you might get shanked by a prisoner if you cross the wrong gang sure. Typically you can stay away from dying by keeping your nose where it belongs.
In Korea, they expect you to die by giving you hard labor.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/10/AR2008121003855.html
Have a read. It makes a US prison sound like a resort where you get to have a nice relaxed stay and a pedicure every once in a while.
If you think anyone at all deserves that kind of shit, I hope you get hit by a MUNI bus on your self-righteous way to work tomorrow. And hey, if not at least try not to sound like a total douchebag on the internet. I know it's totally fucking bad-ass on the internet to sound nonchalant about a death camp in a third world country but have some fucking respect for people who have it a LOT worse than you.
How did you find out that this area lacks human rights? You didn't read it in the newspaper, did you? I hope not, because then you'd be relying on people like these two to go there (or escape from there) and tell you about it.
I gotta more or less agree with RobInSF. It's awful that they'll probably rot in some labor camp, and I do hope they come back alive. But I feel no sympathy for them - they willingly went into NK, fully knowing what could happen. If anything, their actions gave NK more excuses in already tense relationship with the rest of the world.
When you walk into a cave knowing there is a bear in it, and get eaten, you don't blame the bear, it's your own damn fault.
Well, most of the reports say they were reporting from right along the China/NK border where it's very hard to discern which is which. They likely weren't aware they were in NK. NK is also accusing them of being spies, when they are obviously just journalists.
it's definitely not hard to discern whether you're in China or Korea where they were. It's separated by two rivers and a mountain. It's not like you're crossing between two states here in the U.S.
Also, it doesn't matter if they are "obviously journalists" when you are dealing with a paranoid rogue nation looking for a fight.
On my list of places to avoid it's North Korea, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Hunters Point and the TL around 2am. Some of us just don't buy into the whole journalists-are-heroes bit.