By Via One Free Korea comes news of just what our State Department thinks about the two US reporters being detained/kidnapped in North Korea:
- These undated photos show two American journalists Laura Ling, right, and Euna Lee. Ling and Lee… Expand These undated photos show two American journalists Laura Ling, right, and Euna Lee. Ling and Lee were detained by North Korean soldiers while on a reporting trip earlier in the week near the country’s border with China, South Korean news reports said today. Collapse (Yonhap/AP Photo)
A US diplomat in Seoul has shocked a group of visiting Congressional staff members by allegedly making highly insensitive comments about two journalists — Taiwanese-American Laura Ling and Korean-American Euna Lee — now facing serious criminal charges in North Korea.
William Stanton, deputy chief of mission at the US embassy in South Korea and a candidate for the next director of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), is said to have told the visitors during a briefing that the two young journalists were “stupid” and that their case was “distracting from bigger issues.” [Taipei Times]
Make sure to read the rest from OFK because he does a pretty good demolition of this William Stanton character and much of the State Department policies surrounding their attempts to get Laura Ling and Euna Lee released.
I do have to wonder what the “bigger issues” are that Stanton is so concerned about that is more important then the lives of these two detained/kidnapped US citizens?
Anyway One Free Korea also provides some further information about a theory I have found to be very plausible:
The Taipei Times report also says, without offering further detail, that “[t]here is evidence that the North Korean guards crossed the river and grabbed the women on the Chinese side, forcing them into North Korea at gunpoint.” I’d like to know what Lowther has heard, but here’s what a knowledgeable reader told me: Ling and Lee’s Chinese driver was a North Korean operative who led them into a trap — a suspected North Korean plot to take American hostages. Such a plan could only have been approved by Kim Jong Il himself, and was almost certainly meant to shield North Korea from the diplomatic consequences of its then-planned missile test. The main purpose would have been to take the measure of the Obama Administration, and of that, mission accomplished. I don’t doubt that a second North Korean motive was payback for Lisa Ling. [One Free Korea]
This theory correlates with what the journalist’s sponsor in China Reverend Chun Ki-won who said he believed their guide took them across the border. What if it wasn’t a guide and instead a North Korean operative?
4:44 pm on April 27th, 2009 1
oh come on, we have been reading this news for a month now, we know what happened, they deliberately crossed the border the cameraman pussied out and these two girls found out exactly what happens when you visit North Korea uninvited.
I hope they both get home safely, sure, but HELLO, they knew what they were doing and chose to do it. So we don't need to go rushing in playing the game. The real situation is North Korea.
Laura got herself into this stituation because she purposely crossed a border she should not have crossed.
Sorta like the MTV show Jackass, people doing stupid shit.
I want her home, and feel for her, but let's not rewrite history here.
9:43 pm on April 27th, 2009 2
I can't believe this, what a tragedy. This is much more important than the North Koreans launching a missile capable of delivering a warhead to the US (uninvited).
Plainly put, these two knew what they were getting into and they got caught. They were not smart enough to outwit the North Koerans that makes them stupid I guess.
9:59 pm on April 27th, 2009 3
The diplomat is right in calling them stupid.
They knew the consequences and got themselves into their own mess.
What did they think would happen?
Kind of like those idiot missionaries that travel to Muslim-dominated countries to spread Christianity…they get their dumb a$$e$ caught and killed!
10:43 pm on April 27th, 2009 4
So what proof does anyone have that they intentionally crossed into North Korea other then what the North Koreans are saying?
It is well known how NK border guards could care less about photos and video being taken:
Show me some proof they intentionally crossed into North Korea and you can then call them stupid all you want. So you have right now is a State Dept. official calling them stupid before he even knows if they were kidnapped or not.
12:52 am on April 28th, 2009 5
There is plenty of classified reporting that describes in detail how all of this went down. I'm 99% sure that Mr. Stanton has access to it.
That's all I'll say about the matter.
3:41 am on April 28th, 2009 6
[...] Diplomat FAIL. [...]
4:15 am on April 28th, 2009 7
As Laura's close friend for over 10 years, I can say that there is no way that she would have illegally entered North Korea. I appreciate that you can sit on your high-horse and call names, but it doesn't change the fact that these two women have been held for 6 weeks now, without the ability to contact their spouses, family and loved ones and are potentially going to be tried. All of their friends and family are in need of support right now, NOT hate speech. Thank you.
6:27 am on April 28th, 2009 8
They work for Al Gore. How much proof do you need?
6:30 am on April 28th, 2009 9
If there was evidence that they had been abducted by North Korea from China, somebody would have said something by now. These ladies are very likely to have dug their own hole. Everyone except for Fox News knows it.
12:21 pm on May 11th, 2009 10
The only thing we know for sure about this case is that Mr. Stanton's comment that these women were stupid is in itself a stupid act for any diplomat and should put an end to his not so diplomatic career.
I too have visited the North Korean border with China over 20 years ago and at the time was nervous when I recognized just how easy it might be to end up an unwilling "defector" should someone stuff me in a cab and drive me across the bridge at Tumen. At the time, there were few Westerners in the Yangjae, Tumen, Antu and Baektu San area and I defintely stuck out and frankly I was concerned about my proximity to North Korea. As I recall my Chinese "minders" were also a little nervous. I couldn't help but consider what might happen to me if I were somehow spirited into North Korea and weeks later propaganda leaflets began to drop from the sky in South Korea proclaiming I was the latest American defector.
Mr. Stanton's dismissive comments were especially unfortunate because it signals the North Koreans that American diplomats have accepted their version of events, blamed the victims, believe their behavior was "stupid" and that the North Korean actions were justified. Thank you Mr. Stanton.
And just what big things are these women putting in jeopardy by venturing too close to North Korea? Were the North Koreans just about to call a halt to testing missiles? Are they about to open up their economy and their country? Are they suddenly going to agree to end their nuclear program? No. In the past 15 years of lengthy bilateral negotiations with North Korea what we have actually seen can best be characterized by the movie "Groundhog Day." Every day we try something new, say something a little more accomodating, try a more nuanced negotiating technique and the North Koreans stick to the same script and continue their bad behavior. Same shit – different day. Maybe what we need to do is redefine success in dealing with North Korea as simply an absence of violence – nothing more. Capturing these two young women and conducting a show trial is pretty much what we should have come to expect from North Korea. It is a dreadful regime run by dreadful people. The two young women may indeed have been foolish for approaching too close to the border. they may even be a little naive but while this is playing out, it is really stupid for any senior American diplomat to make any characterization about their behavior.
2:21 pm on May 11th, 2009 11
…or, for you few Second Level Thinkers…
Maybe Mr. Stanton's comments were carefully calculated to set the stage for North Korea to not only save face but to also appear generous when they release the journalists.
…or, maybe, regardless of everyone's wishful thinking, they DID cross the boarder and got caught and Mr. Stanton, basing his speaking on inside information, is rightfully annoyed that the reporters were “distracting from bigger issues.”
…which could explain why the United States government is AMAZINGLY quiet about this compared to the saber rattling one would expect if a foreign government openly kidnapped American citizens from a third country's soil.
8:58 am on June 4th, 2009 12
How about this…STUPID for whatever the reason (Story or not) going so dangerously close to a country known to kidnap foreigners. Why play so dangerously close to fire. You play with fire you get burned. I'm sick and tired of these reporters and missionaries going into hostile countries and getting killed or kidnapped. Common sense people! Is your stupid story really worth risking your life and putting your family through grief if you get killed or captured?!?!?!
9:02 am on June 4th, 2009 13
Also the "Bigger Issue" would be dealing with the nukes this country and it's looney leader possess whom may very well be selling to other terror affiliated groups!
9:03 am on June 4th, 2009 14
Thank you!
9:04 am on June 4th, 2009 15
My point exactly!
10:11 am on June 4th, 2009 16
The whole episode of events with North Korea I predicted two years ago and they have already been caught selling nuclear technology to a rogue regime that supports terrorism and nothing was done to them:
http://rokdrop.com/2007/07/01/nk-reactor-shutdown…
http://rokdrop.com/2008/04/25/photographs-of-the-…
This is all nothing new. I highly recommend you read the Strategic Disengagement Theory:
http://www.dprkstudies.org/2006/07/06/north-korea…
10:13 am on June 4th, 2009 17
Journalists have been going to the border of North Korea for years without anyone getting kidnapped. Going to the border is not stupid, if they walked into North Korea then yes that is stupid but at this point no one knows other than the reporters and the cameraman who escaped but is not talking plus the Chinese guide who has mysteriously disappeared.
12:18 pm on June 4th, 2009 18
What's with all the nasty comments on this site! Seriously! These are real women, mothers, daughters, and sister's we're talking about here. Lives at stake and everyone knows the N. Korean government is not playing with a full deck. Do you honestly think that Laura and Enua would risk their lives crossing the boarder? Euna has a 4 year old little girl..do you honestly think she would risk never seeing her again? The truth is we really don't have any proof about what went down. Until we know more, please keep it positive and get these mothers and sisters home! NOW!!!!!!! CAN YOU HEAR ME WORLD?! GET THEM HOME NOW!
3:37 pm on June 6th, 2009 19
I am very happy to discover this website today, which I found on page 20 of a Yahoo search for "Mitch Koss"
I also have experience in the China/North Korea border area, with 3 successful infiltrations between 2002 and 2005 in the area surrounding Dandong. I can confirm that North Korean sentries are forbidden from setting foot on China's side of the border.
I support the theory that Current TV's crew was led into a trap by either a North Korean operative or an ethnic Korean citizen of China who at this moment is now retired and extremely wealthy. Imagine the cell phone call that guide made to North Korea from Yanji, "Hey, I've got 3 US passport holding journalists with direct links to Lisa Ling and Al Gore!" How much do you think that package is worth?
11:07 pm on June 6th, 2009 20
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I do think the trap scenario is plausible and the one that would know is the cameraman but if he came out and said that it could effect the trial. Their Chinese guide has mysteriously disappeared so that suspicious right there.