Laura Ling and Euna Lee: We Were Arrested in China

[babylonsister]

Hostages of the Hermit Kingdom
Laura Ling and Euna Lee, the two American journalists released last month after being imprisoned in North Korea, tell their story -- and remind people of the story they wanted to cover.
By Laura Ling and Euna Lee

September 1, 2009 | 6:28 p.m.


We arrived at the frozen river separating China and North Korea at 5 o'clock on the morning of March 17. The air was crisp and still, and there was no one else in sight. As the sun appeared over the horizon, our guide stepped onto the ice. We followed him.

We had traveled to the area to document a grim story of human trafficking for Current TV. During the previous week, we had met and interviewed several North Korean defectors -- women who had fled poverty and repression in their homeland, only to find themselves living in a bleak limbo in China. Some had, out of desperation, found work in the online sex industry; others had been forced into arranged marriages.

Now our guide, a Korean Chinese man who often worked for foreign journalists, had brought us to the Tumen River to document a well-used trafficking route and chronicle how the smuggling operations worked.

There were no signs marking the international border, no fences, no barbed wire. But we knew our guide was taking us closer to the North Korean side of the river. As he walked, he began making deep, low hooting sounds, which we assumed was his way of making contact with North Korean border guards he knew. The previous night, he had called his associates in North Korea on a black cellphone he kept for that purpose, trying to arrange an interview for us. He was unsuccessful, but he could, he assured us, show us the no-man's land along the river, where smugglers pay off guards to move human traffic from one country to another.

When we set out, we had no intention of leaving China, but when our guide beckoned for us to follow him beyond the middle of the river, we did, eventually arriving at the riverbank on the North Korean side. He pointed out a small village in the distance where he told us that North Koreans waited in safe houses to be smuggled into China via a well-established network that has escorted tens of thousands across the porous border.

Feeling nervous about where we were, we quickly turned back toward China. Midway across the ice, we heard yelling. We looked back and saw two North Korean soldiers with rifles running toward us. Instinctively, we ran.

We were firmly back inside China when the soldiers apprehended us. Producer Mitch Koss and our guide were both able to outrun the border guards. We were not. 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. They violently dragged us back across the ice to North Korea and marched us to a nearby army base, where we were detained.

Over the next 140 days, we were moved to Pyongyang, isolated from one another, repeatedly interrogated and eventually put on trial and sentenced to 12 years of hard labor.

more...

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/sunday/commentary/la-oe-lingleeweb2-2009sep02,0,6204216.story

[okieinpain]

1. brave but stupid.

[MercutioATC]

3. That's my take, too.

I can appreciate the school of thought that refuses to criticize them, but I don't belong to it.

Good intentions, bad decisions.

[JeanGrey]

2. Really, really, stupid.

[Bluenorthwest]

4. This is what journalism is supposed to look like

If it is not risky, it is not reporting. These brave women are examples to all the air conditioned, well fluffed on air 'talent' that most Americans refer to as journalists. They got their story, the world has learned from it, and that is in fact their job. Most American TV 'reporters' think their job is to warm the seats of a motor home until it is time for the live feed. And most Americans are happy to pay them millions to do such catered and comfortable 'work'.

[customerserviceguy]

5. What story did they get?

I sure don't remember a damn thing they brought back. They violated the first rule of journalism, which is, "Tell the story, don't become the story."

When you add stupid to brave, you get foolhardy. I can't wait to see what the little dictator in NK got out of the deal.

[Bluenorthwest]

7. That is a 'rule' from the distant past. That 'rule' is poison to non print

journalism. The story they brought back was larger than the one they went to tell, and the one they went to tell is still on tap. When you add craven to shallow, you get cubicle workers. Great works often call for great risk. I'd not expect most folks to understand that. Most people live small lives and seek only safety and status quo. To such citizens, all things done by their more courageous and accomplished fellows seem crazy and risky and all sorts of bad things.
I love and adore the work these women and the others at Vanguard have been doing for years now. This is one story out of many stories, many of them risk filled, all of them worth the risks. They are alive, working, and in a better position than ever to be heard.
Just one question. Had you ever heard of them or seen their work prior to the arrest? Were you 'concerned' for them when they went to Mayanmar illegally? Same thing could have happened there. And in that case, the reporting that came out of it was the only actual footage and witness of that society that I have ever seen in our press, in the entire Western press. Did you know about that? I've watched so much wonderful reporting from them, learned more than from really any other working journalists.
But of course, it seems so dangerous from your vantage point. And they must be called names for that! For accomplishing a huge body of amazing work.

[customerserviceguy]

13. OK, so the old rule that the reporter is not to be the star of the story

is now null and void? Wonder if they teach that in journalism school?

No, I had not heard of them before this, nor their trip to Myanmar. I guess if you take enough foolish chances, you'll wind up on the evening news. And their "amazing work" was to tell us that life in Myanmar is fucked? Wow, I had no idea.

I guess they're lucky that President Obama gave enough of a damn about them to send a willing Bill Clinton over there to spring them. I suggest that they stay a bit closer to safety next time, I doubt that anyone is going to want to spend US prestige or their own safety to drag them out again.

You asked me a question, here's one for you: If the little dictator had decided to shoot the Secret Service detail assigned to President Clinton, and held him hostage, should we have risked nuclear war over it?

[izquierdista]

6. No, it's what stupidity looks like

To report a story, one has to return to civilization and write the story first. Relying on one person, who could be working for North Korea, was dumb and stupid. Wandering around in an area where the border is unmarked and North Korean border guards could chase them down was dumb and stupid. There is plenty of video on YouTube by people who have escaped from North Korea that they should have taken more precautions than they did. They wandered into a trap, not a very sophisticated trap, and were used by the North Koreans.

[Bluenorthwest]

8. And they did not return?

What standards do you apply in your field work? Are you used to risk of any form in your daily work?

The fact is that this country has a long history of risk taking journalists, and a history of those who call them names from the comfort of some daily grind.

[kickysnana]

9. Nice Duck. n/t

[Bluenorthwest]

11. The guy said they have to come back, as if they did not return.

The idea that risk taking is always bad is a mind set of mediocrity, being promoted by people who live in safety and comfort. Many, many jobs are filled with risk. People die in the workplace to mine coal. Artists get killed for making art. Politicians, well, that Bobby Kennedy, how stupid could he be? Running when most figured he'd get shot at if not killed, but he ran anyway, and walked the crowds. Rosie begged him not to take those risks. But he took them. Clearly very stupid by the standards of the DU temps.

[izquierdista]

10. Yes, I do "risk" every day

I have to make sure nothing in the lab blows up. I don't just take the word of one person. I read the information available and double check it. I don't allow people with other intentions to get where they can make things blow up. These women disregarded their own personal safety and it was only on the whim of Kim Jong Il that they were able to return. They could just as easily be killed or disappeared.

[Bluenorthwest]

12. So 'lab' and 'field' are the same to you?

Do you ever work outside of a controlled environment? Do you know that people die on mundane job sites all the time, under circumstances with information that has been checked and double checked, and still they don't come home?

People die to mine coal. To catch fish, to grow crops, to make movies. For the sake of exploration and discovery. Work is often dangerous. That is no reason not to do it.