Laura Ling, Euna Lee Held In North Korean Guest House: Report

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea might release two convicted American journalists if the United States offers a gesture such as an official apology, a U.S.-based scholar who visited Pyongyang said in interviews published Friday.

Laura Ling and Euna Lee were detained in March near the North Korean border with China and sentenced last month to 12 years of hard labor for entering the country illegally and for "hostile acts." The two work for former U.S. Vice President Al Gore's California-based Current TV media group.

University of Georgia political scientist Han Park said that the two are being kept at a guest house in the North Korean capital and the delay in sending them to a prison labor camp may be an attempt to seek talks with Washington on their release.

"North Korea's move not to carry out the sentence suggests that it could release them through a dialogue with the United States and they could be set free at an early date, depending on the U.S. gesture," Park said in a interview with South Korea's JoongAng Ilbo newspaper.

Park, originally from South Korea, arrived Thursday in Seoul following a trip to Pyongyang.

Separately, Park told South Korea's Yonhap news agency that the issue of the journalists could be resolved if the U.S. government offers an official apology and promises such things won't happen again.

He also predicted that Washington and Pyongyang could hold a dialogue soon over the journalists' release and their return to the U.S., according to Yonhap. No timeframe for a possible meeting was given.

"I heard from North Korean officials that the American journalists were doing fine at a guest house in Pyongyang," Park told the JoongAng Ilbo.

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Park said North Korean officials were angry at the journalists for trying to produce a program critical of the isolated communist country.

Attempts to reach Park in Seoul were unsuccessful.

In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday that the reporters have expressed "great remorse for this incident."

Clinton called on North Korea to grant the two amnesty and allow them to quickly return home to their families. She said "everyone is very sorry that it happened."

A South Korean who helped organize the journalists' reporting trip to China, the Rev. Chun Ki-won, said in April that Ling and Lee traveled to the border region with North Korea to interview women and children who had fled the impoverished country.

Park's comments came days after Laura Ling told her sister, journalist Lisa Ling, during a 20-minute telephone call that a government pardon is their only hope for freedom.

In California, Lisa Ling said Thursday that her sister called Tuesday to say she and Lee had broken the law in North Korea when they were captured.

Their continued detention comes as the U.S. is moving to enforce U.N. sanctions as well as its own measures against the communist regime for its May 25 nuclear test. The North also recently fired seven ballistic missiles in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

North Korea and the U.S. fought on opposite sides of the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. Washington and Pyongyang do not have diplomatic relations.

In Paris, Reporters Without Borders, known by its French acronym RSF, staged a small rally in front of the "Peace Wall" sculpture next to the Eiffel Tower on Thursday night.

"The aim is to show our solidarity" with the two jailed journalists and with the protests being held in the United States, said RSF's Lucie Morillon.

"We're here to show that it really is an international campaign, not just an American one," Morillon said.

Comments

[mamacat]

Thank goodness for small favors. A guest house is a far cry from a labor camp. Hopefully they will be reunited with their families soon.

[Marmel]

Hey, here's a thought:

These women were working for Al Gore's TV network.

Where the hell is he in this?!?

http://marmel.com/2009/07/americans-working-for-al-gore-held-captive-in-korea-where-the-hell-is-gore/

Just asking.

[reasonshouldrule]

If North Korea has said that Ling and Lee are being held in a guest-house, then that's a very good sign that they will be released. Maybe even with just a little bit of diplomatic language that the NKs can call an apology to their own people. Holding these women--and certainly sending them to a work camp--is a real problem for the NK leadership, and they are certain to want to resolve the situation.

[VictorianNovel]

I do think respect for the law is important, and if the reporters did cross the border, than they have to face the consequences. However, despite that, I think that the reporters had integrity in their intentions. Because the DPRK regime is one of the most repressed and isolated nations in the world, the reporters could not get first hand interviews with refugees any other way. It's not a new thing, for journalists to risk their own safety to get a story. For all those who accuse the women of merely seeking fame regardless of the consequences, I say that there are a lot safer and easier ways to achieve fame in this media obsessed culture of ours.

Lastly, I have to add for all those who don't know, that in China it is illegal to harbour North Korean refugees, and when they are caught by Chinese officials, they are often sent back to North Korea to either be imprisoned or executed. The story of the bravery and suffering of these refugees should not be ignored.

[sviolette]

Look even North Korea treats their prisoners better than we treat ours.

[NWRICK]

Why are some of you so thoroughly convinced they were IN NK?
Look it up. History is VERY clear in this regard.
Or are you saying that they wait until someone crosses the boarder before they plan there illegal tests? VERY doubtful.
Your third option is coincidence. Also VERY doubtful.
I agree that if you break a law, you should pay for it.
I am not convinced these girls violated anything!

[Pigeon2]

NWRICK....their backpacks were confiscated, one of the women is saying on a tape, that they had entered into NK...

[Amalek]

That is pretty strong evidence, which together with the testimony of their guide who ran back to China, is enough to convict them in any US court.

[sviolette]

It makes no difference if they were in N. Korea. The N.K. arrested them and they say they were.

[ywcachieve]

Americans violent the laws of other countries then expect the US government to come to their rescue.

[westphilly726]

Agreed.I wish this story would go away.They broke the law.Why should we get into a hostile situation because of their stupid mistake.I don't care whether they come home or not.I don't want them coming home to a hero's welcome.Soldiers fighting in Afghanistan an d Iraq are heroes. Not these two .If 2 foreigners broke the law in the US,I don't think NK should tell us what to do.We would handle it our own way.

[noweknow]

Lisa Ling is an actress? She's just a reporter on the. National Geographic.

[gaja]

She's a well-respected journalist who has been inside many oppressive countries before including North Korea. What is your point anyway? Even if Laura Ling didn't have a well-known sister in the media - that still doesn't mean her situation is any less tragic...

[sviolette]

She is an American. That makes her more than"just a reporter on the National Geographic".

[Amalek]

And lest we forget, Americans are immune from all foreign laws.

[Firenze]

I hesitate to believe the reporters are in a "guest house" when the source is the N. Korean government. . . at the same time, I imagine if they anticipate releasing these journalists, the last thing they want is for them to have access to the actual labor camps in the event they are released . . . one wouldn't want the world hearing about human rights atrocities from a first-hand eyewitness.

[gratonite]

"Guest house." You can check out any time you like...

[ibsteve2u]

When you think of North Korea, consider that their basic flaw is that all power - all wealth, such as it is - is concentrated in the hands of the few, hardly anyone but the already privileged few can ever hope to attain power or wealth, and those few abuse that power.

Then take a look at what the Republicans have done to our inequality curve over the last 30 years.

[flossophy]

sigh.

Humanity has been doing an order of magnitude better in the last 30 years, than in the 50 years prior.

Reagan's economic boom was a worldwide boom... too bad the Pr0gressives couldn't do that in 50 years of controlling power in this country.

Inequality curve... ha.

[Amalek]

You are right. Kim Jong Il is a Bush/Cheney wannabe.

[davidwayneosedach]

Thank God they are not at hard labor!

[VictorianNovel]

Why are so many people concluding that the two journalists crossed the border? They were in the border region interviewing North Korean refugees, and it is most likely that the regime took the opportunity to use them as pawns in a diplomatic game, regardless of whether they were breaking North Korean law or not.

Also, it is vital that the stories of the refugees are exposed to the rest of the world. For all of those who are crying out that they have no empathy for the two journalists for their perceived lawlessness, than they should bear in mind the lawlessness of the DPRK regime in comparison. North Korean refugees are hunted down and imprisoned in death camps or executed with no trial.

Many are misunderstanding the whole concept of law and justice. You say well, they broke the law, they were at the border. I don't think all laws are just, and the fact that the DPRK regime makes a law, that does not mean it is a just law. Even if the two women were over the border and broke DPRK law, they were breaking it to expose the unjust law of the regime that requires that all refugees be considered as traitors fit to be executed.

[Dan Stewart]

"They were in the border region"? What does that mean?

The border is a river; they were on one side or the other. According to the BBC and other news organizations they had crossed the river into NK.

You say that: "most likely that the regime took the opportunity to use them as pawns in a diplomatic game." Are you saying that NK troops crossed over the border (the river) to arrest them while they were in China? And, presumably, China doesn't object to that?

Please, stop.

[VictorianNovel]

Border region means near the border, but not necessarily crossing of the said border.

I don't see why China would object, as it was the Chinese government that backed the DPRK regime, and installed the first North Korean leader, and supported the DPRK in the Korean war.

Also, I won't stop. I'm allowed to expres my opinion as much as you.

Lastly, why are some people so emphatically obessed with the idea that law=justice. If I believe that injưstice is happening, such as the inhumane treatment of Korean refugees by the DPRK regime, and I want to expose that to the world, than, perhaps the crossing of a border on the scale of things, is justifiable.

50 years ago in the States segregation laws were considered by many to be "the law", but if someone broke them, to expose the injustice of the idea behind the law, than according to you, it doesn't matter because the law is the law. And this is assuming that the journalists knowingly broke DPRK law.

[ywcachieve]

Victoria...please stop it.. give up trying to spin this. The women crossed the border into North Korea, They have already admitted it.

[hkc]

Nonsense. If you were being held in a North Korean prison you too would likely confess to crossing the boarder just to be able to make a phone call.

These women were convicted in a 1 day trial closed to the public and unable to call witnesses. It is not a proceeding likely to convince any reasonable person that justice was being done. They have been held incommunicado ever since their arrest. We have heard no independent report of the arrest so we don't know if they were inside North Korea or not.

Furthermore North Korea has a long history of snatching people from across the boarder both north and south as well as kidnapping Japanese people from beaches in Japan. Much of the current bad blood between Japan and North Korea has to do with the dozens of people kidnapped over the years from Japan. They were nowhere near the "border region".

Regarding the reporters people who value justice and democracy should preserve their presumption of innocence.

[VictorianNovel]

Sorry, I'm not going to stop exercising my right to free speech. I don't agree with you, but do you see me asking you to "stop it"?

On the other point, I'm not trying to spin it. I'm saying that even if they did break the law, people are forgetting why the journalists were there in the first place. Why are you not expressing as much indignation over how the DPRK treat their refugees and own citizens?

Fine, if they did cross the border, they should respect the law and be punished. However, I still feel empathy for them, and I think we still need journalists like them who have the courage to risk their own safety to expose the injustices of the world.

[sasson]

The arm chair liberals are out today. There are numerous posters criticizing actions of these women. So, the reporting of human trafficking of women in North Korea is not a story that should be told? There is no proof that these women crossed into North Korea. Even if they did, it was on a barely definable border. People keep saying that they should not have stuck their nose in someon else's business and they should not have gotten involved. That is what makes you an arm chair liberal and what makes these reporters true liberals.

[xtiangodloki]

Arm Chair liberal - a person of liberal ideals who takes no action to realize them.

So after hearing the story about the poor, poor North Koreans, what you have done to help them and why do you think it has made any difference?

[sasson]

I work as a public interest lawyer in a large city. I think it makes a difference. Can you say the same and say it truthfully?

While i do nothing with North Korea, I am greatly appreciative of those who do the same. Can you say the same?

[Dan Stewart]

You say that: "There is no proof that these women crossed into North Korea. Even if they did, it was on a barely definable border."

But, the border is a river; they were either on one side or the other. According to the BBC and other news organizations they had crossed the river into NK.

[sasson]

The river was frozen at the time.

[mergina]

If Mr. Bad Hair MentallyILL has an ounce of brains under that Bad Hair he would let these women go TODAY. IF.