Lisa Ling to Go Public, Demand the Release of Her Sister

This just in from the Facebook page for Laura Ling and Euna Lee, the two U.S. journalists whom North Korea seized along its border with China back in March, shortly before its long-range missile test:

Subject: Going public

Hi everyone, it’s Lisa Ling.  Firstly, our families are deeply grateful for your support and efforts to try to secure the release of Laura and Euna.  To say that this has been stressful would be to grossly understate how hard this has been.     Our families have been very quiet because of the extreme sensitivity of the situation, but given the fact that our girls are in the midst of a global nuclear stand-off, we cannot wait any longer.

We have to speak out!

Our families will be on the Today Show on NBC   in the 7AM block on Monday morning –3 days before the June 4 trial (taking the time differnce in consdieration).  We will also be on the Larry King show on CNN Monday night as well.  Please help us urge both our government and North Korea’s to resolve this humanitarian issue.  Help us stand up for truth and two girls who just wanted to tell the world a story.

My deepest and most sincere thanks,

Lisa

Obviously, I think this is the right move, and Lisa must know that the North Koreans are imprisoning her sister as retribution for her own brave reporting.  The State Department’s timid approach is both contemptuous of Ms. Ling and Ms. Lee and clearly ineffective.  But will it work?  It depends on the message.  If the message is that our government just has to “do something,” no.  Our government already lacks the will to use the leverage it has, and the payment of any kind of ransom will only endanger the next victim.  If the message is generally to spread the word about the vileness of the regime itself and demand the release of Lee and Ling, it stands some chance of putting pressure on North Korea to end their captivity.  I’m convinced North Korea tracks our media closely.  And although present events certainly don’t suggest that North Korea is cultivating a reputation for benevolence here, some NGO folks I’ve talked to have said that the North has occasionally moderated its domestic atrocities when foreign criticism focused on them. That means that one of the best things that Lisa Ling can do for her sister is finish telling the story Laura Ling wasn’t allowed to.

Lisa Ling should also help us understand how and where her sister was seized, something that the State Department has concealed from us so far.  We need to know what Mitch Koss saw before he escaped.  The answer has grave legal and policy implications.  If Laura Ling and Euna Lee were seized from Chinese territory or lured into North Korea, that would be kidnapping and almost certainly .  If North Korea has demanded political or economic concessions — ransom — in exchange for the release of Ling and Lee, that would also justify a description of Ling and Lee’s ongoing detention as terrorism, regardless of the circumstances of their seizure.  Terrorism by the North Korean government against U.S. citizens would demand a very different policy approach than what the State Department has applied thus far, and it would justify applying some of the powerful sanctions — including asset freezes — available under Executive Order 13224 (opens in pdf).  It would also be maddeningly ironic after the State Department establishment shunted aside Japan’s legitimate concerns for its own abducted citizens.

Finally, I hope that Lisa Ling will remember that her sister came to the North Korean border from Chinese territory, may have been abducted from Chinese territory, and may have been lured by North Korean agents working on Chinese territory.  According to this report from the U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China, “A South Korean newspaper has reported that North Korean agents regularly enter Chinese territory and kidnap, with the tacit support of Chinese public security officials, South Korean activists assisting North Korean asylum seekers.” That means China bears responsibility for allowing North Korean agents to work on its soil, and China should also be an object of public pressure.