By As advertised Lisa Ling’s family did do an interview yesterday on the Today Show about the detention of Laura Ling and fellow journalist Euna Lee. Euna Lee’s family also appeared on the program.
One Free Korea has a good analysis of the interview to include pointing out the very qualified apology Lisa Ling issued in what appears to be an effort to get the two released. Right now the families are taking a very apologetic route in order to secure the release of the two women from North Korea. Hopefully it works, I guess we will see what happens in a couple of days.
5:46 pm on June 2nd, 2009 1
I noticed the families are stating that it was never their intention to cross into North Korea. Is that true? If so, what was their intention? Why would a journalist travel to the North Korean border if not to cross over and report from the inside?
Just wondering what the story is here. Obviously, I hope these women are released soon and unharmed. I've got to think chances are good they'll be returned. All it takes is a little grovelling and a whole pile of cash.
10:31 pm on June 2nd, 2009 2
There has been many journalists who have traveled to the Chinese/NK border just to get footage of North Koreans. Often times they take the boat tour. The only time I have seen a journalist go into North Korea was a Japanese news crew that went to a North Korean island in the middle of the river and filmed the living conditions of the people living there. These two would have to be beyond dumb to think they can just walk into North Korea and interview people. That is why I would rather wait until evidence is shown that they did walk across because I have a hard time believing it.
2:30 am on June 3rd, 2009 3
GI,
They didn't take a perceived (set up?) opportunity to slip across the border and get some extra-special footage that the usual reporters on tourist boats just don't get.
Maybe.
I would like to believe so… but the evidence points otherwise…
…starting with the hope that if there was ANY suspicion that North Korea kidnapped two American citizens from China, the US government would be all over that with an in-your-face saber-rattling campaign backed up with smart bombs…
…instead of acting like the South Korean government did when the missionaries were captured in Afghanistan… appeasement we all rightfully railed against at the time.
In reality, the people that have a good idea what happened (diplomats) are publicly irritated rather than indignant. Everyone else who has any inside line is hedging their words… and everybody involved is getting real toady… asking North Korea for a favor instead of reminding them what happens when you dork with innocent American citizens.
Did they just "walk across"?
Rising-star journalistic thinking combined with opportunity makes it easier to believe for me than for you…
…(not including Stars & Stripes hacks who don't really even rank as high as "reporter" since they simply paraphrase the official press releases and add a few stock sentences about rainbows, butterflies and smiling GIs greatful for the chance to be once-again disappointed by leadership at taxpayer expense).
10:49 am on June 3rd, 2009 4
You are saying there is evidence they walked across which is not true. There is no evidence that they walked across and really the only one who knows is the camera man who escaped. Their guide has mysteriously disappeared for what its worth.
The cameraman is key to this but he ain't talking because if he did see them not walk across or in fact walk across it could effect their trial. Even if they did walk across they are clearly being held hostage as bargaining chips. Also the US did not saber rattle with Iran to get the hostage there released. In fact I cannot remember the last time the US saber rattled with any nation to get hostages released much less drop smart bombs?
9:56 pm on June 3rd, 2009 5
GI! You are usually on top of things a LOT more.
“You are saying there is evidence they walked across which is not true. ”
Yes and no. There is no smoking gun. But… circumstantial evidence, primarily based on the behaviors of every individual and organization with inside knowledge, overwhelmingly indicates there is zero belief the two reporters were kidnapped from China.
“Also the US did not saber rattle with Iran to get the hostage there released.”
I’m shocked you would say such a thing! We had no need to saber rattle. We actually sent an armed and equipped rescue mission… and that was under Carter, no less. The glaring failure of that operation kinda took the rattle out of any future saber movements.
“In fact I cannot remember the last time the US saber rattled with any nation to get hostages released much less drop smart bombs?”
Excellent point… but on closer consideration, when is the last time an American citizen has allegedly been kidnapped from a third country by actual government representatives?
The closest situations would be Iran hostages and Jessica Lynch… in which military-backed rescues were initiated.
In all other cases I can recall, American hostages were taken by organizations and not governments… and generally within the country in which they operated. In many of those cases, the American government has directly intervened (Somali pirates) or supported the local government against the organizations (Columbia).
In cases where Americans were officially “arrested” for “crimes” within a country’s boarders, the American government has used diplomacy and humanitarian pleas if they felt the crime/punishment was incorrect (Singapore caning vandal).
This behavior is absolutely consistent with the current actions of the US government in this situation. They are treating it as if North Korea is within their sovereign “rights” to hold the reporters for “crimes” committed against the state.
Now, my grasp of history in this aspect is hardly complete… and my above opinion of the situation is based on my belief on how things have historically worked out. If anybody can think of a situation where a government directly kidnapped American citizens from a third nation, please bring it to our attention so we can compare the American reaction.
2:39 am on June 4th, 2009 6
I’ve been along the Yalu or NK/China border many times and chatted with the DPRK border guards on several occasions. They are generally pretty chilled out, riding their bicycles along the border and singing songs and whatnot. They usually ask you for cigarettes and will even show you their guns; one told me if I stood on a certain sandbar that would be North Korean territory and that I was welcome to stand there. Perhaps stupidly, I did so, but he didn’t do anything and we continued talking for another then minutes before I left. So basically, these two journalists had to have done something pretty provocative to piss off the soldiers on the border enough to grab them. If they had just been hanging out on the China side of the border and snapping pictures or recording video, I am pretty confident that nothing would have happened to them. Indeed, just standing on the border and videoing into North Korea would be kind of boring, especially outside of a big city like Dandong. All you’d get is shots of corn fields or maybe a North Korean soldier standing on a pill box in the middle of a field and looking back at you with binoculars. So my guess is that these two journalists did something they shouldn’t have, and that’s as far as I’m willing to speculate here.
2:44 am on June 4th, 2009 7
EDIT: then –> ten
2:32 am on June 4th, 2009 8
Hmmm…
Saberi was "arrested in Iran in February 2009 for working as a reporter without press credentials, which were revoked in 2006."
This makes her a criminal under Iranian law… and, maybe, a spy (in kinda the same way a kid on an American playground who says, "I'm gonna kill you, man," is making a "terrorist threat".)
She falls into the same category as Singapore car vandals and Western nurses who show their legs in Saudi… we don't think it's right and we will complain and plea… but in the end, we will respect your sovereignty.
Kim Dong-shik is closer to the example we were looking for. It sure seems the American government didn't put much real effort into getting him back.
It's not so easy to explain that lack of concern away… but it may have been that his actions were causing irritation for China, South Korea and America… making his disappearance more convenient than troubling.
So… maybe these two reporters DIDN'T cross the boarder. Maybe America just CAN'T complain too loudly… because, like Sami al-Hajj, Bilal Hussein and several others, America has done exactly the same thing by arresting irritating foreign reporter for political reasons.
Who knows.
5:27 am on June 4th, 2009 9
In regards to Iran I wasn’t talking about the Iran hostage crisis I was talking about the recent journalist released there Saberi. Jessica Lynch was a war time action, the closest thing to the US saber rattling would be the failed Iran hostage rescue mission as you stated. Also North Korea has already kidnapped before an American Permanent Resident Kim Dong-shik and most likely killed him.