Discuss Laura Ling and Euna Lee's statement on North Korea, "Hostages in the Hermit Kingdom"

Open letter to Laura and Euna,

You might take some lessons from Nancy Youssef, a real journalist who covers combat zones in Afghanistan. You might note a few things:

1) She's actually extremely knowledgeable about her subject as opposed to superficial sensationalism.

2) She puts herself in real physical danger -- not for a Gerald Rivera moment like you two -- but for gaining knowledge about her subject.

3) She has never attempted to become the story like you two.

4) She hasn't jeopardized global nuclear security or the security of refugees -- like you two faux journalists.

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/09112009/profile.html

I have always believed that Current has been mistaken in the imposed silence SINCE the release of the reporters. When an incident occurs, get your version of the truth out first, so that you frame the argument and debate from that point on. The first critical report about the reporters came out as early as August 21st. Plenty of time for Current to make a small statement outlining the details, including the fact that the team took precautions to protect identities. That way the negative wouldn't make the first round of headlines, and the ladies didn't have to defend themselves in the editorial.

What would a small statement have hurt? (hopefully not a book deal, as some have speculated). Stripping away the narrative, most of what we were told did not happen exclusive to LIng and Lee. Mitch Koss was there as well. Current could have released the statement I suggested based on his eyewitness account alone.

Putting the narrative aside, and what they were willing to share about their experiences after the arrest, what was really learned from the editorial?

It had already been reported that they were arrested in China. Theories were already circulating about the guide as a traitor. The fears expressed that the tapes could cause trouble for the refugees appeared in blogs as early as June 17th. The nature of the assignment was known. All of the above were confirmed by the editorial, so no new suprises. (I'll repeat that Mitch Koss could have told us as much.)

We did learn the following:

1. The destruction of notes and tapes. I want to believe this, but I need more details. How did they come to be left alone, and when in the arrest saga did this occur? How did they destroy the tapes and were they entirely successful? After all, they had two guards in the room 24/7 in Pyongyang. Was the army that lax that they had time alone with their gear?

2. They trusted the guide and followed him as he waved them across the river. That doesn't tell me any of the decision making process the team did in coming to the conclusion that this was something they wanted to do. Did they actually think that they could walk into a safe house in NK and interview refugees waiting to cross the river? Scared shitless refugees who know what is in store for them if they are caught?

3. The women are sorry for the unintended consequences of them doing their job they way they though best. I don't think the written words convey the passion and anquish that the must feel.

Much has been made about the story they were working on having already been done. It has been, but that is not a reason to not do the story. "Korea: Out of the North", is the one I am familiar with.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuHidhPTU50&feature=related

The camera crew got video of a woman and her guide coming across the Tumin. The difference is that this crew hid and waited in the bushes, they didn't walk into NK to shoot film.

The big question I have, and will probably never get an answer to is this: What, for the good of the story, was on the NK side of the river that Laura and Euna risked the happiness and well being of their families and child, the lives of NK refugees, their own psychological and physical well being, and even their lives? What was so important they were compelled to follow someone they really didn't know across a river into a country that is about as brutal as there is in existence today?

Laura and Euna got their foot wet in the experience of the NK refugee. I hope they use that experience in the coming months to remind us of the piight of these people.

"But it was ultimately our decision to follow him, and we continue to pay for that decision today with dark memories of our captivity."

I believe this is the truest, most heartfelt statements in the editorial.

I wish the ladies a speedy and comlete healing.

HA HA HA HA *chortle chortle*

Laura Ling and Euna Lee and Mitch Koss:

Help me get this straight: The reason you crossed the Tumen River at Yueqing all the way across the border to the opposite riverbank was to conduct a TV interview with North Korean "associates" of your local guide in China? Your guide must have been laughing all the way to the "bank"!! (Pun intended)

Whose brilliant idea was that?

Hey, what about that souvenir stone the North Koreans claim one of you pocketed? My money is on Euna; I bet she wanted to put it on her Vanguard office desk as a paperweight next to the candy box!

HA HA HA HA!!!!

Powerful. It amazes me deeply, the strength you two have. Your story inspires and moves me in the core. Thank you for sharing.

I'm sure most of us, if not all of us, understand you not being ready to tell us the whole story. I'm sure in due time you will. To be honest, I don't care all too much about what happened while you were in there. Not as much as I'm just filled with overwhelming joy that you are home and with your families.

All the best to you.
-J.M. Romig

The trouble with you hombre76 is that you see the world in such black and white, good and evil terms. Naturally you see yourself on the side of good, which is another over-simplification.

Of course, there are nasty regimes and North Korea, as a regime, can be considered quite evil. However in dueling against evil, your two nitwit faux journalists forgot that they could have collateral damage in the form of 1) compromised safety of North Korean refugees (check out nytimes.com) and 2) compromised nuclear safety of the world while trying to tread lightly to win your nitwits' release. For example, this might have let nuclear arms or sensitive missile parts slip pass as ship inspections were delayed.

But the arrogance of your two nitwits enables them to overlook whatever collateral damage they have created. Sort of like what Bush did in Iraq.

So I hope this isn't too much for you to comprehend as it appears from your exchanges that your brains are even smaller than tus cojones pequenos.

AlienNationRefugee, apparently you never heard of a little thing here in the US called the Civil Rights Movement. there where all kinds of laws prohibiting blacks from getting the equal treatment entitled to all citizens of this nation. but I suppose by your thinking the black and white activists should have never have gotten any news coverage other than how their acts where criminal and in fact all that footage of them being brutalized by the police should have never been released or better yet destroyed and the journalists arrested too. your kind of thinking makes me want to puke. I suppose you were one of those that got pissed that anyone was bitching about the Tibetan uprising and China's crackdown on that indigenous and separate culture that the Chinese are occupying illegally. Or how bout Tienanmen Square I suppose you would have been happy if the governments of the world had actively participated in covering up that massacre because we should always accept the laws of a given place regardless of whether they are just or even if they simply prop up a totalitarian regime. You and all the other haters keep talking about the LAW here like there is no difference between a just and ethical law and a corrupt and self serving law maybe you all should go and take a civil rights course and an ethics one cause you all are just blind sheep otherwise doing whatever the person with the gun tells you to do. So any motive to apologise for being unlucky enough to suffer the deprivations these two young women endured is only a knee jerk response to wanting to appease these corrupt governments.

Pyongyang held the four South Koreans for a month after their boat strayed into northern waters on July 30. Maritime officials say the fishermen encountered difficulties with their satellite navigation system.

''I am sorry to the public for causing concern, but I am deeply grateful for the support that secured our quick return,'' the boat's captain Park Kwang-sun told reporters in a brief comment after arriving at Sokcho, a port 130 miles (210 kilometers) east of Seoul.
--------------------

THIS IS CONTRITION. And they weren't even trying to pick up DPRK souvenir rocks.

http://www.flatrock.org.nz/topics/terrorism/north_koreans_eating_human_flesh.htm

Laura and Euna willfully broke the laws of the DPRK, China and the US. I believe there is something inherently compromised about any story that you have to break the law in order to obtain it. I would like to see Current state publicly that they will no longer publish any stories from any writers where the laws of any country were broken in order to obtain it. You don't have to break the law in order to be a journalist.

It doesn't really bother me that these two young women made a serious mistake. What bothers me is that they refuse to admit that and ask forgiveness. And that is why they are far from heroes in my book. At this point I think that their arrogance and pride as illustrated in that disingenuous editorial has brought disgrace on Current and the entire movement. What a shame. All they needed to do was say 3 simple words, "I am sorry."

Pitiful.

People hating on the journalists whenever the subject itself appears, people just create these accounts, for purposely hating on the journalists. How pitiful and ungrateful.

The journlists did a good job, and shall they move forth...

WHAT IF.......

WHAT IF LAURA AND EUNA PULLED IT OFF?

WOULD THERE BE ANY CONTROVERSY? WOULD ALL THE HATERS FIND SOMETHING ELSE TO FOCUS ON IN ORDER TO IGNORE ANY/ALL THE GOOD THEY, and CURRENT, HAVE DONE?

they did good!

AlienNation,

Perhaps they are too "Americanized."

In my experience living in South Korea I have found the Korean people to show tremendous contrition for even perceived offense. It is too bad that these two young women do not possess the character of the Korean people as a whole. I would hope that Al Gore, a man I respect and admire, would disavow such shenanigans at Current TV.

These two unprofessional boneheads have forgotten the #1 rule of journalism. DO NOT BECOME THE STORY. What were they there to cover? Who knows anymore - all these two dip$hits care about now is their side of the story. What happened to the original story? Superfluous - just as these two morons are.

And now? Rather than focusing on their original story - these two - focus on their innocence - RATHER THAN THE ORIGINAL STORY - So now - we have (Notice NO original link to original story they claimed to find so important) -

Beijing denies NKorea seized US reporters in China

(AP) – 27 minutes ago

BEIJING — China on Thursday rejected claims by two U.S. journalists that North Korean guards had crossed into Chinese territory to grab and drag them back into North Korea.

Television reporters Laura Ling and Euna Lee were seized in March and held in North Korea until former President Bill Clinton traveled to Pyongyang in early August and secured their freedom after meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.

Ling and Lee, who work for former Vice President Al Gore's San Francisco-based Current TV, said in an article posted this week on its Web site that they hesitantly followed their guide when he beckoned them across a frozen river into North Korea but were "firmly back" on the Chinese side when North Korean border guards grabbed them 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 fullest 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."

On Thursday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said the two were not grabbed in China.

"As we understand from competent authorities, we did not find the situation as you described it," Jiang told a regular news conference.

After their capture, Lee and Ling were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for trespassing and "hostile acts" against North Korea.

They were moved to a Pyongyang guesthouse and held there until they were pardoned after Clinton's trip.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

The two current reporters put a lot of lives at risk, not to mention the "from russia with hate' segment led to the deaths of two other human beings. decapitation and execution of foreigners. current's 'pushingthenevelope' attitude is somewhat foolish and destructive.

Thank you Laura and Euna. You both light up the darkest corners of our globe and I appreciate you for giving us all sight for where we were once blind. Keep up your bravery. Without you, the world would be a much darker place.

Apparently, those who praise and express sympathy for these irresponsible girls have little if any awareness of our "situation" with North Korea. Look it up. These idiotic girls, fancying themselves serious reporters, stepped into a hornet's nest that our top government officials can't go near for negotiating purposes. Does the word "NUCLEAR" mean anything to you?

Laura and Euna,

First, I want to note that I am appalled at the anger and finger pointing. I can't read anymore. I am ashamed for these people's behavior. Did anyone read about how you protected your sources? Does anyone care that you regularly risk your lives to report in dangerous and hostile climates? Too many people living in glass housing and throwing stones. Yikes! Please don't read these horrible posts.

I am a 44 year old woman who attended college for the first time at the age of 35. As a sociology and women's studies student, I was angered and shocked to learn about all of the important issues that the mainstream media does not report on, like human trafficking and the sex trade. I want to offer my sincere thanks for the important work that you have done over the years. The news of your capture and imprisonment brought me to Current, my favorite news source. I hope that there are many others who have been brought to current by your story who are now becoming educated about the state of the world.

Thank you, Laura. Thank you, Euna. P.S. Your daughter is adorable!

Peace out, girlfriends!

Escucha, macho hombre76, take a look at what Koreans are saying about your two nitwits and how it's endangered the lives of innocent North Korean refugees. But hey, hombre, don't let the facts hit you in the ass on your way out.

So let me get this straight you haters on here are trying to say
A: Laura Ling and Euna Lee are not proper or even skilled journalists. This is categorically wrong as I saw another post on here point out the current VG team is some of the most ground breaking and hard hitting investigative journalism available today. As a part of the VG team I have seen Laura Ling step into places and situations that would have made a grown man shit himself with fear just to get a story. As for Euna Lee I don't know of her as well but she seems to be either Chinese or Korean so she was probably more educated than Laura on local people custom and protocol maybe even language proficiency. In any case as Laura is in a league all her own in the field of journalism I'm sure Euna was in the same and that is why Laura had her there.
B: this idea that just because there is something as arbitrary as a fucking border does not mean that you ignore atrocities with in said border. According to some of you even if they where executing children on the other side of a hill beyond this sacred border you would be ok if 1, no one ever violated that sacred border (the “if a totalitarian regime kills thousands and no one bothers to report or investigate it is it still a war crime?” clause) or 2' that those brave and noble enough to risk execution at the hands of said murderous totalitarian butchers should be left to there own devices good luck suckers? All so we don't rile up some fuckin broke ass little dictator who keeps black mailing us every time he needs a boost in popularity among whatever sycophants still serve that SOB!? You people need to get off to France circa 1935 with your gutless appeaser attitude. I and most freedom loving people believe the right thing to do was exactly what Laura and Euna did and believe if we all stood together against dictators like Kim Jong Ill that we would not have them for long. Unfortunately there are far to many people like the detractors on this thread so that the best we can muster is our brightest and bravest and most selfless to go and confront these murderous thugs and their gangs of thieves and killers and hope that their smarts and courage and determination to help others will bring them home each time.
So the next time you think about removing your foot from your opinionated mouths and letting us all know your useless and vindictive rants ...... don't.

from the NYTimes:
But here in South Korea, human rights advocates, bloggers and Christian pastors are accusing them of needlessly endangering the very people they tried to cover: North Korean refugees and the activists who help them.

The accusations stem from a central fear repeated in newspapers and blogs here: that the notes and videotapes the journalists gathered in China before their ill-fated venture to the border fell into the hands of the authorities, potentially compromising the identities of refugees and activists dedicated to spiriting people out of the North.

The Rev. Lee Chan-woo, a South Korean pastor, said the police raided his home in China on March 19, four days after the journalists visited and filmed a secret site where he looked after children of North Korean refugee women. He said that he was then deported in early April and that his five secret homes for refugees were shut down. The children, he said, were dispersed to family members in China, who could not afford to take care of them.

“The Chinese cited scenes from films confiscated from the journalists when they interrogated me,” said Mr. Lee, 70. As evidence of the ordeal, he provided documents he said the Chinese police gave him after the raid.

“The reporters visited our place with a noble cause,” he added. “I did my best to help them. But I wonder how they could be so careless in handling their tapes and notebooks. They should have known that if they were caught, they would suffer for sure, but also many others would be hurt because of them.”

The Rev. Chun Ki-won, the chief pastor of the Durihana Mission that Mr. Lee works with, said that two of the women interviewed by the American journalists fled China after being told about the arrests, frightened of being repatriated to North Korea and put in labor camps. Another interviewee was still on the run in China, he said.

“We could not find out whether they filmed any other refugees we don’t know of,” Mr. Chun said. “If that’s the case, we have to find them, provided it’s not too late already. But the American reporters are not talking to us.”

Many elements of Ms. Ling and Ms. Lee’s reporting trip remain shrouded in mystery. Neither their employer, Current TV, nor the journalists have revealed details of their work or the circumstances under which they were captured.

Ms. Ling and Ms. Lee were arrested by North Korean soldiers on March 17, while their cameraman, Mitch Koss, and their guide were reported to have been detained by the Chinese authorities after fleeing.

Brent Marcus, a spokesman for Current TV, said, “We’re concerned about the situation that has evolved with Lee Chan-woo and the Durihana Mission.”

But he said “many of the details” in the pastors’ accounts were “not correct.” When Ms. Lee and Ms. Ling have recovered enough to tell their story, he said, it will differ from the pastors’ versions. E-mail messages to Ms. Lee and a representative who has been handling public relations for the reporters’ families were not answered.

According to Durihana, the Current TV crew met with Mr. Chun, the chief pastor, in Seoul on March 13, asking for help covering the plight of North Korean refugees in China. Mr. Chun said he put them in touch with Mr. Lee and a Korean guide in China.

On March 15, the crew met Mr. Lee in Yanji, a Chinese town near the northeastern border with North Korea, he said, but seeming lapses in security bothered him. For one, he said, they called his home telephone in Yanji — a serious breach of protocol for activists who operate under the constant fear of being monitored by the Chinese police.

The activists, missionaries and smugglers who help shuttle people out of North Korea have moved about 20,000 North Korean refugees through China, mostly to South Korea. Some operate with a political agenda to undermine the North Korean government, and some are driven by religious passion to convert North Koreans to Christianity.

Mr. Lee said the American crew asked to visit one

OK They were not stupid to do it the 1st time I agree. But----If they go anywhere close to that border again then they would have to be cosidered stupid

[: Glad to see that they're home safe.

This goes to show how messed up other countries are.

all i have to say is PARTE!

they are back :D

There is no need to criticize these women. If you think what they did was stupid, keep it to yourselves. "MTBeatty", I find it laughable that you think they should have done their time in North Korea. If it were you or one of your family members I am certain that you would expect the US government to intervene. Whether you like it or not, what they went through was more than anyone on this website could ever imagine. Leave them alone and let them tell their story.

This really bugs me. These two young ladies decided to do a story on a country that would usually put someone to death for the stunt the pulled. You cant play the hokey pokey with a country like Korea. (Put your left leg in, put your left leg out.) You both broke the law and should have done the time given to you. You think you have done something so amazing by doing this story, then you become the story. Next time think about what you are doing, think about your families, think what the consequences are or your actions. Don't complain you got caught, you should be thankful you were aloud to leave. Every time you go to bed remember all the other prisoners that are not as lucky as you guys were.

can't wait to see the movie but only if it's done by you two brave but naive adventurers. Next time take backup.

I think it's pretty sad that people don't appluad these women for their bravery over the past months. They put themselves in danger so we can be informed about what is going on around the world. How many people would bring themselves this close to North Korean and NOT crap their pants? These women survived a situation so grave most people will simply ignore or underestimate their ordeal. Yeah the average person might not have EVER considered putting themselves this close to danger, but that is what makes these women truly remarkable. Thank you both so much for risking your lives to shed light on situations average people turn a blind eye on everyday.

Thank you for all you both do to help bring Light and Truth to the world.

I am amazed at the extend governments go to stop the free flow of information. I am glad they are speaking out bout the tatics used by corrupt governments to assualt journalist. I hope the Iraqi Journalist, Ibrahim Jassam, is released soon too and that Current will give him a voice too, to expose the corrupt government that illegally arrested him and held him over a year without charge.
Stay strong Euna & Laura.

"We regret if any of our actions, including the high-profile nature of our confinement, has led to increased scrutiny of activists and North Koreans living along the border. "

If? Well their regrets and a $1.50 will buy a Starbucks coffee. What a selfish statement. If this is all they have to say they should just stay silent. I lived in South Korea for years and as an American I never even considered going to the DMZ because I KNEW what a prize an American hostage would make and how wildly erratic DPRK border guards can be as evidence by their shooting a South Korean female tourist to death just last year. If these 2 women didn't understand these dangers and consequences before "walking" into North Korea then they really shouldn't be journalists.

That the two of you pretenders have not begun the talk show circuit yet is telling. Ms. Lee, if you want to be taken seriously, you may want to consider providing a more professional photo of yourself for the networks to run the next time you make a fool of yourself and bugger up international relations while playing at being a big-time TV journalist. Your photo looked like a teenaged girl's glam shot from the local shopping mall. What a couple of little goofs you are. When you make your inevitable "Let's-get-innocently-recalcitrant-with-Oprah" appearance, do keep in mind that many won't be swallowing it. I'm sure many in our present administration fantasized about ditching all civility in favor of verbally ripping you apart. I agree wholeheartedly with those who described you as narcissistic and self-absorbed. This fiasco you attempt to elevate into the realm of socially-significant journalism was nothing more than the bumbling of a couple of fame-seeking, inexperienced young girls who should have stayed home.

The story was more harmful to China than N Korea...

Thanks for taking the time to let us know! I can't imagine being chased across a river by two armed soldiers. I'm just glad they weren't shot.

It takes great courage to expose inhuman and criminal acts. It takes even bigger balls to do it on foreign soil. I know that your wounds will not heal soon, but I deeply hope that one day you can go back to exposing corruption around the globe and being the greatest journalists of our time.

Thank you for sharing...

take your time to heal. thank you for not giving up or giving in to fear. atta girl to the both of you. i want to hear your story. all in good time. when you lay with dogs you get fleas. you walked with your head held high,you will again. no surprise that the betrayal happened.

Thanks for the statement and thanks for putting your life on the line for the story. True journalism.

To Laura and Euna,
If you truly feel bad for those North Korean refugees, why not donate all your profits from future earnings related to your new found fame to refugees around the world, especially for those 19 orphans. From experience, I know it's extremely difficult to miss those North Korean soldiers with guns guarding the border. Were you blind-folded by your guide?

I find it interesting that "jalisco", "truthfirst", and "second_opinion" are so concerned about the North Korean refugees while at the same time they condem the very reporters who tried to shed light on the issue. If it weren't for them, how would you know about the North Korean refugees? I certainly haven't seen any reports about them on any other news broadcast. What Laura and Euna did was not some horrible "hostile act". They were in the country for less than a minute. Even if the country has laws against people crossing their border, I hardly consider that a "hostile act". You have no right to be so upset about Laura and Euna doing what they did. There are no other journalists trying to bring this story to the attention of the American public. Get over yourselves. Seriously.

No surprise, their report is not entirely truthful. The caretaker at the foster home that Lara Ling and Euna Lee visited (mentioned in their story) requested they not take pictures of the children or the facility. However, within hours of their arrest in North Korea, the facility was raided by Chinese police. Apparently some of the children had been photographed surreptitiously, and the North Koreans discovered the photos and turned them over to the Chinese authorities. The caretaker was arrested and jailed for 6 days, then was deported from China. He was interrogated harshly and lost all of his personal belongings.

More importantly, 19 young children were dumped into the streets. Many have since been located and taken in by others, but some are still missing. These are young children without parents or documents and are easy victims to the very traffickers that Lee and Ling purport to be crusading against.

Lee and Ling got their story. No doubt they suffered in North Korean prison. Al Gore and Bill Clinton get a moment in the spotlight. But what about the wreckage these people left behind in China?

I would like to see Current do something REAL to correct the situation of the children whose lives they have endangered.

candid

candid

"Totalitarian regimes the world over are terrified of exposure." Most Definitely.

If you see a pit with some rattlesnakes in it are you going to jump in? I hope everyone would be smat enough to not.. Same with going anywhere near the vipers nest called North Korea. Stay away-Stay away and finally Stay away

it's good to know that the reasons I had thought on the silence as well as other things are now backed.

It is not necessary for me to have known much of anything on this situation, because if I was to know I would be told by those who were there or deemed it necessary to share.

I understand when it's necessary to push to know something and I did not feel it necessary to push to know much of anything about this situation. There is no need to know everything. This full disclosure stuff over everything is the dumbest idea ever. The people that push for it are hardly ever truthful as to why they deserve it and hardly truthful in their lives in general.

Like the pictures that Obama's Adminestration states would not help anything but only hinder is being requested over and over again by a stupid group of people. They have NO idea what they are asking for but they are SURE they deserve to know and they PRETEND to want it in the best interest of US the people. Yes government can be terrible and yes it can be great. But this silence they want on these pictures is apparently very important and I would have to agree. There are some things that we do NOT need to know in order to live our lives. Some secrets do protect people and some truths kill unnesessarily.

I cannot believe people have the ability to reason totally disregard using such just to feed their greedy curiosity.

I hope that the both of you get all the help you need to cope with what has transpired while you were over there. I may never know the full details and I know I'll never ask to know...but what I do know is that it sucks to have something that alters you and makes you different than what you were before to where some might wonder where the old you went. And it sucks to be the person that lost the old 'you' and it sucks that someone was brutal enough to steal it and all you could do is watch it go. Family and friends want to help get the old you back and you want the old you back....but it won't happen and I am so sorry that it won't. Now it's just a matter of coping with what you see when you sleep and how you feel when you're awake.

If only there was a cure for this kind of pain and suffering. Physically one could heal, but mental pain and suffering is so much worse.

I give much love and much support to however you decide to heal and find closure.