North Korea Detains Two (?) U.S. Journalists
As you see, the reports conflict as to how many incidents there were, how many journalists were detained, and on which side of the border:
The preponderance of reports thus far suggest that two American journalists with the network Current TV were arrested — and if this is confirmed, it would be fair to say “abducted” — from the Chinese side of the Yalu River while filming North Korea.
Two American journalists on a reporting trip to the border between China and North Korea have been detained by the North Korean military, a human rights activist and another source said Thursday.
Laura Ling, a Chinese-American, and Euna Lee, a Korean-American, were believed to have been detained by North Korean border guards Tuesday morning. Their Chinese guide, an ethnic Korean, was also detained. A third journalist, Mitch Koss, was believed to have remained in China. [N.Y. Times]
South Korean network YTV (which had originally reported that both women were Korean-American) reported that the journalists were detained by border guards after refusing orders to stop filming from the Chinese side of the border. The BBC quotes YTV as reporting that the North Koreans crossed the river to arrest the two women, and the presumably forced them back across the river to the Workers’ Paradise. YTV claims to have gotten its information from “a South Korean government official.”
The journalists (I’m not sure which of them is depicted in this Current TV photo) were trying to do what the Times itself seldom does — report on the plight of ordinary people in North Korea. The Rev. Chun Ki-Won, a leader of the underground railroad for North Korean refugees, had helped arrange the reporting trip, and the two detained journalists were cooperating on some level with a Chosun Ilbo correspondent as well. According to Chun, the two journalists were headed for the town of Dandong.
And in addition to this, the AP cites a Munwha Ilbo report that a female reporter named “Ming” who was working for a U.S. network was detained by North Koreans near North Korea’s western border with China. It’s not clear if the reports describe one or separate incidents.
In recent times, some remarkable reports from the Yalu River area had shown just how porous the Chinese-North Korean border had become. The Chosun Ilbo’s ground-breaking “On the Border” series, produced in cooperation with the BBC, depicted the misery of North Korean refugees vividly.
Since then, this Japanese television report became the only one to my knowledge to be filmed inside North Korea surreptitiously. The journalists hired a Chinese guide, who carried them to a North Korean island in the middle of the river. Other Chinese boatmen had even gone into the business of leading human safaris along the south bank of the river. The opening of the border follows other reports of a breakdown of discipline and morale among North Korean border guards. North Korea defends its isolation as if the survival of the regime depends on it. Because it does.
For now, the U.S. Embassy in Seoul is saying nothing; ditto KCNA. Also silent for the moment: Current TV’s co-founder, Al Gore. Expect the North Koreans to make a big deal out of this unless an exorbitant ransom is promptly tendered. Indeed, Chun Ki-Won told the New York Times that North Korean guards had recently “lured” outsiders to come close enough to the border to abduct them and hold them for ransom. It’s unlikely that North Korean border guards would dream up anything that ambitious without orders from higher up, and a provocation of this kind certainly serves the regime’s interests in grabbing attention, harrumphing at the Americans, testing a new president, extorting concessions, and — mostly importantly — deterring journalists from reporting on the misery of the North Korean people.
I believe that that picture is of Lisa Ling.
She certainly bears a resemblance to Lisa Ling, who did a very unflatting piece on North Korea on the National Geographic channel, but I would not quite say it’s her. It certainly could be “Laura Ling,” one of the two reported victims here.
Hmm. Same last name, same profession, striking resemblance ….
I thought of Lisa Ling as well when I first saw the photo.
Sisters, apparently. Lisa’s husband is also Korean-American, as I recall.
So if the North Koreans are engaging in a little payback for this, will someone please call this by its rightful name?
AP confirms. Laura Ling is Lisa Ling’s sister. My heart goes out to the families and I certainly hope they’ll be returned soon, and safely.
The North would have to have had pretty good info to grab her specifically if she was a target. I’d go more with pot luck.
I’d never want to be taken by North Korean border guards – but I’d especially not want to be the sister of the well-known American journalist who tricked Pyongyang into letting her and her crew make that documentary about those eye operations….
….I imagine some heads literally rolled for not having caught the deception at the time….
…and I’d imagine there are some people for which her family connections will touch a very raw nerve.
If she was working for an Al Gore outfit — he had better use his clout to get backdoor channels screaming about this in order to try to limit any possible horrible acts on the part of North Korean officials up and down the chain of command….screaming loudly about it.
And I’d also say —- whatever the circumstances in how all this came about —
—- it is now a key test for the Obama administration.
I don’t want to over do the emphasis, and from my point of view, it isn’t too big event — but when I put on my “Pyongyang thinking cap” — I can see where they would think it is a very big deal and big test.
— Inotherwords, I can see NK using the US reaction to this as a guide for what it can try to get away with (or not) over the next 4 to 8 years…..
With the missile test coming up, and then this, I am also thinking about the China spy plane incident from around 2002: It wasn’t too long before North Korea tried the same thing by sending out fighter planes to harass a US spyplane. The North didn’t waste jet fuel like that, from the reporting I remember, and the US crew said it seemed like the jets were trying to force them to follow them to North Korea.
Recently, we saw China harass a US spyboat.
Of course, there was the Pueblo back in the day.
Even if North Korea didn’t specifically know that these people on the border were Asian-Americans…..now that they do…….we could see this expand into a big incident…
….or not…..
Time will tell…
My prayers are for those being held….
I hope that Laura Ling and her colleague will be released immediately and unharmed. If it was “pot luck”, then talk about “being in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
These journalists had every right to be there. Where is the outrage by their fellow journalists? There should be thousands of journalists following up on this outrage, on the Chinese border, right now!
The Chinese government is also complicit since they’ve long tolerated North Korean incursions into their territory to forcibly repatriate refugees and kidnap South Korean nationals. China will probably participate in release negotiations and then take credit for freeing two women kidnapped on their soil.
I expect them to be released as well after the Obama administration sends some high level official to visit North Korea to “apologize” for their trespassing in North Korea. They will then use this visit as a back door channel to open dialogue with the Obama administration in order to get their own bail out deal.