Tim lawsonNorth Korea finally releases imprisoned journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee
March 31st 2010 15:11
American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee were arrested and detained by the North Korean government in the daybreak hours of the 17th of March, 2009. They were arrested as they videotaped in Kangan-ri, North Korea, as part of a story about the trafficking of women for Current TV, an independent media company led by former U.S Vice President Al Gore and businessman Joel Hyatt. Initially it was unclear whether the pair had crossed from China into North Korea, or whether they were arrested by aggressive border guards that had crossed into China: recently it was confirmed that they had indeed crossed into the North Korean state. Upon their arrest, the women were rushed into two separate vehicles and taken to Pyongyang for questioning where they remained under arrest until their trial.
After months of detainment, on the 12th of June a closed trial was held and both Laura and Euna were sentenced to 12 years of reform through hard labour for illegal entry and grave crimes against the North Korean state.
The Current TV team was initially composed of three individuals, Mitchell Koss, Laura Ling and Euna Lee. Mitchell Koss, 56; a veteran executive producer, somehow evaded capture, he was briefly detained by Chinese authorities and then returned to his home in Los Angeles.
Laura Ling, 33; currently serves as Vice President of Current TV’s elite Vanguard investigative-reporting unit. Ling also serves as an on-air correspondent for Current TV and has a penchant for dangerous but important stories: she has covered subjects including the avian flu crisis in Asia, slave labour in the Brazilian Amazon and marijuana cultivation in California’s national forests. Prior to joining Current TV, Ling had travelled to Sri Lanka to cover the conflict there, reported on underground youth culture in Iran and interviewed the leaders of the United Wa State Army in Myanmar — labelled by the US as one of the largest armed drug trafficking organisations in the world. Laura is also the younger sister of Lisa Ling, a famous correspondent for National Geographic, CNN and The Oprah Winfrey Show.
Euna Lee, 36; is an editor at Current TV, she has been with the media company since its initial conception, although she only joined the Vanguard investigative-reporting unit this year.
There are many parallels between the sentencing of Laura Ling and Euna Lee, and the sentencing of Roxana Saberi, an Iranian-American journalist who was detained in Iran and accused of espionage earlier this year. Saberi was initially sentenced in a closed hearing to eight years in Tehran’s infamous Evin prison, after a huge public outcry, massive media attention and intervention from top U.S officials, she was granted an appeal and her sentence was overturned and reduced to a two-year suspended sentence. These events took place during the Obama administration’s efforts to engage Tehran and during international scrutiny, led by Israel, over the current Iranian nuclear program. It has been proposed by many that Saberi was a political pawn used to either: disrupt any positive diplomatic relations between the U.S and Iran; be used to show the favourable characteristics of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the lead up to the recent Iranian elections or to deflect attention away from the Iranian nuclear program.
There has been much speculation as to the reason why Laura and Euna were given such harsh sentences. The simplest scenario is that they were used as bargaining chips to help ease tension over North Korea’s recent nuclear testing. It has also been speculated that it was a tactic used to get a highly respected U.S representative, in this case Former President Bill Clinton- who had much better relations with North Korea during his time in office, to travel to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il, as a way of squashing rumours about the ill health of the current leader.
Thousands of activists, well wishers, supporters, colleagues, relatives and friends donated money and time to promote awareness in the media and in the international community about the ‘unfair’ incarceration of these two women. Many supporters wrote letters to the Obama government, and thousands helped by attending candlelight vigils and signing amnesty petitions for their release.
Only days ago, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il issued a "special pardon" freeing Laura and Euna after talks with former U.S. President Bill Clinton, North Korea's official news agency announced Wednesday. It was reported that Clinton apologised on behalf of the two women for their trespassing and associated crimes and secured their release. Thanks to the hard work of many individuals and the efforts of former President Clinton and former Vice-President Al gore, Laura and Euna are safely back home in the U.S and reunited with their families.
After months of detainment, on the 12th of June a closed trial was held and both Laura and Euna were sentenced to 12 years of reform through hard labour for illegal entry and grave crimes against the North Korean state.
The Current TV team was initially composed of three individuals, Mitchell Koss, Laura Ling and Euna Lee. Mitchell Koss, 56; a veteran executive producer, somehow evaded capture, he was briefly detained by Chinese authorities and then returned to his home in Los Angeles.
Laura Ling, 33; currently serves as Vice President of Current TV’s elite Vanguard investigative-reporting unit. Ling also serves as an on-air correspondent for Current TV and has a penchant for dangerous but important stories: she has covered subjects including the avian flu crisis in Asia, slave labour in the Brazilian Amazon and marijuana cultivation in California’s national forests. Prior to joining Current TV, Ling had travelled to Sri Lanka to cover the conflict there, reported on underground youth culture in Iran and interviewed the leaders of the United Wa State Army in Myanmar — labelled by the US as one of the largest armed drug trafficking organisations in the world. Laura is also the younger sister of Lisa Ling, a famous correspondent for National Geographic, CNN and The Oprah Winfrey Show.
Euna Lee, 36; is an editor at Current TV, she has been with the media company since its initial conception, although she only joined the Vanguard investigative-reporting unit this year.
There are many parallels between the sentencing of Laura Ling and Euna Lee, and the sentencing of Roxana Saberi, an Iranian-American journalist who was detained in Iran and accused of espionage earlier this year. Saberi was initially sentenced in a closed hearing to eight years in Tehran’s infamous Evin prison, after a huge public outcry, massive media attention and intervention from top U.S officials, she was granted an appeal and her sentence was overturned and reduced to a two-year suspended sentence. These events took place during the Obama administration’s efforts to engage Tehran and during international scrutiny, led by Israel, over the current Iranian nuclear program. It has been proposed by many that Saberi was a political pawn used to either: disrupt any positive diplomatic relations between the U.S and Iran; be used to show the favourable characteristics of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the lead up to the recent Iranian elections or to deflect attention away from the Iranian nuclear program.
There has been much speculation as to the reason why Laura and Euna were given such harsh sentences. The simplest scenario is that they were used as bargaining chips to help ease tension over North Korea’s recent nuclear testing. It has also been speculated that it was a tactic used to get a highly respected U.S representative, in this case Former President Bill Clinton- who had much better relations with North Korea during his time in office, to travel to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il, as a way of squashing rumours about the ill health of the current leader.
Thousands of activists, well wishers, supporters, colleagues, relatives and friends donated money and time to promote awareness in the media and in the international community about the ‘unfair’ incarceration of these two women. Many supporters wrote letters to the Obama government, and thousands helped by attending candlelight vigils and signing amnesty petitions for their release.
Only days ago, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il issued a "special pardon" freeing Laura and Euna after talks with former U.S. President Bill Clinton, North Korea's official news agency announced Wednesday. It was reported that Clinton apologised on behalf of the two women for their trespassing and associated crimes and secured their release. Thanks to the hard work of many individuals and the efforts of former President Clinton and former Vice-President Al gore, Laura and Euna are safely back home in the U.S and reunited with their families.
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