North Korea said on Monday it had found two U.S. journalists guilty of entering the state illegally and sentenced both to 12 years of hard labor, a step likely to compound diplomatic strains with Washington and regional powers.
The female journalists, Euna Lee and Laura Ling, of U.S. media outlet Current TV, were arrested while working on a story near the border between North Korea and China.
"The trial confirmed the grave crime they committed against the Korean nation and their illegal border crossing as they had already been indicted and sentenced each of them to 12 years of reform through labor," the official KCNA news agency said in a brief dispatch.
Analysts say the two have become bargaining chips in high-stakes negotiations with the United States, which has long sought to end the North's nuclear ambitions.
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18 comments:
America MUST negotiate for the release of these two. Every nation has an obligation to defend ALL of its citizens at home and abroad.
I dislike North Korea's regime as much as the next guy, and am not impressed with this show trial, but just to play devil's advocate here, do you think governments should also negotiate for the release of citizens sentenced to death for drug trafficking in SE Asian countries?
It's actually big news here depending on your ideological sympathies. The story is at the top of the front pages of the three main conservative dailies, and there are already heaps of comments on Chosun's site, for instance. But while the "ChoJoongDong" all had the story on their front pages by 2pm today, as of 2:40pm the Hankyoreh still has some whiney story about Seoul Plaza as its top story, and you can't see any pics of the two journalists at all.
Apparently ideology largely determines how one is supposed to feel about these two women, at least here in South Korea.
We'll have to see if Juniour Kim is a crazy mini me like his father. Whenever that sack of shit dies, it would be interesting to see if his son can it least be reasoned with. A scary thing to consider is that it could be Kim Jung Oon who is calling all of the shots now as we speak, and the uptick in crazy that we are seeing now could be a result of that.
I guess all we can do is to hope that those two women can survive without much psycological damage. The article in the KT mentions something about sending in Al Gore to ask for their release. It might actually be nice to exchange Lee Euna Lee, and Lisa Ling for Dick Cheney, while we are on the subject of vice presidents.
"It's actually big news here depending on your ideological sympathies. The story is at the top of the front pages of the three main conservative dailies, and there are already heaps of comments on Chosun's site, for instance. But while the "ChoJoongDong" all had the story on their front pages by 2pm today, as of 2:40pm the Hankyoreh still has some whiney story about Seoul Plaza as its top story, and you can't see any pics of the two journalists at all."
Do you remember when that female South Korean tourist was shot on Mount Geumgang, in North Korea? It was almost a day before the Hankyoreh and similar papers put the news on their web-sites.
They had to have a trial to show that they did not arrest the two journalist without cause. It goes back to the whole saving face thing. Now that they are sentenced, the US. will have a better chance of gaining their release.
I've been following North Korea's antics since 2002.. Here's my more hawkish take on the situation:
http://web.me.com/superacidjax/Sparkling_Chaos/Welcome/Entries/2009/6/8_No_bargains._Time_to_take_a_powerful_stand..html
@ Brian Deer: Dude, that mouse/cookie metaphor is not working for me.
These chicks knew what they were getting into before they even crossed the border. Anyone who thinks that there isn't a significant chance of being detained or imprisoned as a result of being in North Korea is severely deluded. Members of the western media, especially Americans...they might as well call the labor camp and ask them to reserve some bunks for them. It isn't exactly a secret that the Norks have it in for the US. This isn't any more of a cause than those idiotic missionaries who went to Afghanistan and got themselves abducted. Simple cause and effect. While I can certainly sympathize with these numbskulls...sympathy (and a lukewarm "goodbye") is all they deserve.
They went to a place they KNEW they weren't welcome. They broke the law. Now they're in prison. Game over. Jeez, even Vice Guide went to North Korea and managed to come home in one piece, so what were these bimbos doing there to irk the Norks so?
"They went to a place they KNEW they weren't welcome. They broke the law. Now they're in prison. Game over. Jeez, even Vice Guide went to North Korea and managed to come home in one piece, so what were these bimbos doing there to irk the Norks so?"
Perhaps they were hoping to report on the reality of the plight of millions of innocent Koreans who are kept like slaves in a country that refuses to let the truth of their situation be known and would be happy to let them starve to death if it was a choice between them and the army, and to whom very little attention is paid in the international press, simply because reporting on the wacky sabre-rattling of the poison dwarf in charge makes much better copy.
Mind you, these two 'bimbos' were probably just there to find cheap make-up, right?
Probably better to keep your obnoxious and misogynistic fuckwittery to yourself in future, eh?
When these journalists are released, and the collective American reaction is similar to when Roxana Saberi was recently released in Iran, let's reread this column by Glenn Greenwald and see if any of the journalists held by the USA, often without charges or in direct defiance of a court ruling, and sometimes in their own country, have been released.
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/05/11/journalists/
here's the link again, because the whole thing didn't show up when i posted (may just be my browser or something)...
Link
Rob G: Fair point. At yesterday's State Dept briefing, someone raised the issue of a Rueters photographer arrested from his bed in Iraq recently, currently held in Camp Bucca and not being released despite an Iraqi court decision that he should be.
That said, tit-for-tat is no way to deal with this kind of thing, and anyway I think it is fair to say that Pyongyang is not much concerned with the rights of journalists detained by the US.
Oh, and Brian: well yeah, I kinda do. I think that if a law is unfair it is unbecoming of us not to protest against it. If you believe the death penalty to be unjust, unreasonable, inhumane and inappropriate, you should protest it in any and all it's forms, wherever it is applied. That is not to say that drug smugglers should pay for their crimes, but they should pay within the boundaries of the humane.
Meanwhile, if you believe that North Korea has the right to punish violations of its laws, then we can agree on that. However, NK law stipulates 5-10 years for crimes against the state, and less than 3 for illegal border crossings. To get 12 years in a labor camp after a closed-doors trial tells you all you need to know about the motivations of the North Koreans on this one; so we should probably treat it as such.
I just brought it up to highlight a couple of things, definitely not any kind of justification for what NK has done.
1. I said "When these journalists are released" because I think in all likelihood they will be, as part of some sort of negotiations. A similar phrase about those held by Americans would have to start with "If". Many have been imprisoned for number of years now.
2. Let's put the American reaction in perspective. We care deeply about two journalists being held by an authoritatarian, oppressive state, and their sentencing makes the front page. But we care very little about our government doing similar, and possibly worse ("harsh interrogation techniques"), things.
I have no doubt that Pyongyang is not much concerned with the rights of journalists detained by the US, but it's disappointing that Americans aren't either.
Stevie Bee, nice mix of profanity and sublime wisdom, however, your rudimentary thought process is far from infallible. If your confused mind somehow wants to make this all about misogyny, I don't have the patience to stop you. The fact is, this has "gross miscalculation"...better known as "outright stupidity" written all over it. There is no secret humanitarian crisis to be exposed in North Korea...it's widely known that they (and several other countries) have created appalling circumstances for their citizens. These women went there for some journalistic street cred, and if by some chance they managed to help the North Koreans by making this well-known plight more detailed, then...yay for them.
Paying their ransom is simply aiding a hostile terrorist state and it should not be done.
"Stevie Bee, nice mix of profanity and sublime wisdom, however, your rudimentary thought process is far from infallible. If your confused mind somehow wants to make this all about misogyny, I don't have the patience to stop you. The fact is, this has "gross miscalculation"...better known as "outright stupidity" written all over it. There is no secret humanitarian crisis to be exposed in North Korea...it's widely known that they (and several other countries) have created appalling circumstances for their citizens. These women went there for some journalistic street cred, and if by some chance they managed to help the North Koreans by making this well-known plight more detailed, then...yay for them."
Nice attempt at a save, mate, but the fact is that you are assuming that these two journalists are chasing 'street cred' or are plain incompetent simply because they are young and female. Shame on you.
Also, we most certainly do not know about the reality of quotidian life in North Korea beyond the fact that it probably isn't much fun. As the border with China has been becoming increasingly porous, with an increasing black market trade and an increasing number of North Koreans coming and going, it would seem an ideal place to begin a journalistic investigation. As a large number of those leaving North Korea are young females being sold as wives in China, then young female journalists would also seem ideal to perform this task.
I realise that I too am making some assumptions above, but at least my speculation is based on the facts of the situation rather than ugly and obnoxious stereotyping. Come on, Mike B - have a clue. I'll bet you don't like it when the Korean press uses ugly stereotypes of you, now, do you? (I'm again assuming that you're an English teacher. If you're not, then let me know and I shall supply a different closing sentence.)
It is foolish to enter North Korea with the intentions these reporters are thought to have had. If this is somehow an ugly stereotype of journalists, I make no apologies. Getting arrested for attempting to break the laws of another country isn't a humanitarian crisis...it's meaningless, egotistical grandstanding that does nothing to expose the wrongdoing of the North Korean government. If someone could examine this from a legal and diplomatic standpoint, I am guessing they would say these journalists don't have a leg to stand on.
Naturally if someone was able to gain access to North Korea without being caught, I imagine they would have enough material for six-month long expose in the newspaper of their choice. The would, however, be undertaking a risk (regardless of gender) that would mainly be theirs alone.
Yes, 12 years is a bit harsh, but the relationship between North Korea and the US is . . . , um, tense. As much as I dislike North Korea for being what it is, I don't think the US should feel obligated to negotiate for their release. I like what the one commentor on Marmot's Hole had to say:
http://www.rjkoehler.com/2009/06/17/kcna-journalists-filmed-themselves-in-north-korea/#comment-250854
I think it's a rather disingenuous comparison that the commenter makes between dope-smoking English teachers and these two journalists, most plainly because they are indeed journalists. Regardless of our opinion on the specific legalities and sovereignties involved, they may believe themselves as journalists to be tasked with a mission to reveal the truth that transcends legal technicalities, as many of their ilk have done in the past, to variously virtuous effect. Journalists break the law all the time, and many see themselves as operating within an arena that is supplemental (rather than superior) to its restrictions. This doesn't mean that all journalists should have free leave to do whatever they fancy (like diplomats have), but rather that they are usually given leeway to perform their duties more within a flexible set of ethical guidelines determined by the 'interests of the public' rather by rigorous legal strictures.
According these established practices (established, that is, in most of the world, but markedly not in North Korea, where there is of course no freedom of the press whatsoever), it would therefore be a very dangerous precedent to say that these two journalists broke the law and must therefore pay whatever price North Korea determines. That which North Korea is so vehemently criticized for cannot be then accepted as due process, especially when it is fair to take as given that the journalists in question were caught in the performance of their duty, and additionally, in unclear circumstances.
Also, amid the discussion of this case, I think there has been an ever-present and ugly assumption that because of their gneder and/or heritage, that the two must have been seeking to advance their careers or simply plain stupid. I think this is utterly unacceptable.
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