Title: 2 US journalists held by N.Korea now freed
Description: updated thread
Description: updated thread
MSantor - March 19, 2009 07:26 AM (GMT)
| QUOTE |
| SEOUL, South Korea – North Korean guards detained an American journalist near the country's western border with China, a newspaper report said Thursday. However, another report said two U.S. reporters were taken into custody in the far northeast while trying to shoot footage of the communist country. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090319/ap_on_...journalist_held |
MSantor - June 4, 2009 10:49 PM (GMT)
Just another update on the predicament of those two US reporters being held by North Korea for alleged "acts of hostility and spying" against the DPRK government.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090604/ap_on_...ournalists_held
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090604/ap_on_...ournalists_held
| QUOTE |
| American journalists head to trial in North Korea Associated Press Writers Jean H. Lee And William Foreman, Associated Press Writers – 2 hrs 5 mins ago SEOUL, South Korea – Two American journalists headed to trial Thursday before North Korea's highest court on charges they crossed into the country illegally and engaged in "hostile acts" — allegations that could draw a 10-year sentence in a labor camp. Laura Ling and Euna Lee, reporters for former Vice President Al Gore's California-based Current TV, were arrested March 17 near the North Korean border while on a reporting trip to China. Their trial began at a time of mounting tensions on the Korean peninsula following the regime's provocative May 25 nuclear test. As the United Nations and Washington discussed how to punish the regime for its defiance, there were fears the women could become political pawns in the standoff with Pyongyang. Analyst Choi Eun-suk, a professor of North Korean law at Kyungnam University, said the court could convict the women, and then the government could use them as bargaining chips with the United States. "The North is likely to release and deport them to the U.S. — if negotiations with the U.S. go well," Choi said. The two nations do not have diplomatic relations, and experts called Pyongyang's belligerence a bid to grab President Barack Obama's attention. North Korea's official news agency said the trial would begin by mid-afternoon, but hours later, there was no word on the status of the proceedings. A State Department spokesman said American officials had seen no independent confirmation that the case was under way. North Korea has said no observers will be allowed to watch. Few details are known about how Ling and Lee have been treated since they were arrested nearly three months ago. So far, family members have not reported mistreatment. North Korea's government is notorious for its brutality, but the most recent accounts indicate the regime has softened its treatment of imprisoned foreigners. Still, the experience has left scars on almost all who endured it. In 1996, Evan C. Hunziker was detained for three months after being accused of spying. The 26-year-old American entered North Korea by swimming across the Yalu River on the Chinese border. Hunziker, whose mother was Korean, said he went there out of curiosity and "to preach the Gospel." Other reports said he got drunk and decided to go for a swim. Hunziker was freed after New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who was then a congressman, negotiated his release. Hunziker's father said his son refused to talk about his detention, saying only that he was treated humanely and that the food was bad. In a letter to his mother, he said he was moved from a prison to a hotel. The North Koreans initially demanded a payment of $100,000 as a fine but eventually agreed on $5,000 to settle Hunziker's hotel bill. The family agreed to pay. Hunziker, who had a long history of drug, alcohol and legal problems, committed suicide a month after he was freed. Three years later, the North Koreans detained retired Japanese journalist Takashi Sugishima, who was accused of using a hand-held tape recorder and camera to collect intelligence for Japan and South Korea — an allegation he denied. Sugishima said he was held for two years in a warm, comfortable cell in a mountain detention facility. He was given three hot meals a day and never tortured. "The treatment I received was more humane than I expected," Sugishima said. Still, he added, the experience was "extremely trying," and he worried constantly that he might not survive. Some of the harshest conditions were endured by Ali Lameda, a poet and member of Venezuela's Communist Party. He said he was invited to North Korea in 1966 to work as a Spanish translator but quickly became disillusioned with the propaganda. The next year, Lameda said, he was accused of spying, sabotage and infiltration. He was detained in a damp, filthy cell for a year without trial and survived on dirty scraps of bread and watery vegetable soup. He was often interrogated from noon to midnight. Once, the guards beat his swollen bare feet. "Whilst in my cell, I could hear the cries of other prisoners," Lameda wrote in an account provided to Amnesty International. "You can soon learn to distinguish whether a man is crying from fear or pain or from madness in such a place." During the day, detainees were kept awake because the guards said prisoners could not ponder their guilt while asleep, he said. Shortly after his release, Lameda was tried again. There were no formal charges or specific allegations against him in the one-day hearing, he said. Court officials kept demanding that he confess his guilt. He was sentenced to 20 years in a freezing labor camp near the town of Sariwon, about 40 miles south of Pyongyang. The camp had 6,000 prisoners who worked 12 hours a day making vehicles and mattresses. "The cell that I was taken to had no heating except for a pipe running through it which became warm for approximately five minutes each night," he said. "The windows were iced-up and my feet froze." Lameda served six years before being released again in 1974 without explanation. He was luckier than his colleague, French translator Jacques Sedillot, who was arrested at the same time and suffered the same treatment. Sedillot was released with the Venezuelan poet but died before he could leave North Korea. State-run media have not defined the exact charges against the women from Current TV, but South Korean legal experts said conviction for "hostility" or espionage could mean five to 10 years in a labor camp. Choi, the professor, said a ruling by the top court would be final. The State Department has not divulged details about negotiations for the journalists' freedom. Back home, the reporters' families pleaded for clemency. Ling's sister, TV journalist Lisa Ling, said on CNN's "Larry King Live" that the women "are essentially in the midst of this nuclear standoff." She urged the governments to "try to communicate, to try and bring our situation to a resolution on humanitarian grounds — to separate the issues." In several U.S. cities, supporters of the two women held vigils Wednesday for their release. In New York, dozens of people turned out in a drenching rain, holding yellow chrysanthemums. Gatherings also took place in San Francisco and Santa Monica, Calif. ___ Associated Press writers Kwang-tae Kim in Seoul, William C. Mann and Foster Klug in Washington, Ginny Byrne in New York, and John Mone in Santa Monica, Calif., contributed to this report. ___ On the Net: Facebook page for Lee and Ling: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid60755553149 YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?vxaxXdKcA5tM |
MSantor - June 8, 2009 02:04 PM (GMT)
That North Korean kangaroo court just sentenced those two US journalists to 12 years' hard labour.
latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-norkor-journalists8-2009jun08,0,3667915.story?page=2
latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-norkor-journalists8-2009jun08,0,3667915.story?page=2
| QUOTE |
| North Korea sentences 2 U.S. reporters to prison June 8 2009 "If things are business as usual in North Korea, it would suggest the journalists would be released quickly. If not, they could be held for a long time," Snyder said. North Korean labor camps are notorious for their high death rates because of malnutrition and overwork. But thus far, the women have been fairly well treated, housed in a Pyongyang guest house and allowed occasional telephone calls. The Swedish ambassador has also been permitted to visit them. "The North Koreans are not in a hurry to release them. They see them as valuable pawns," said an aide official who works in Pyongyang, speaking on condition of anonymity a few days before the trial began. Both women are married and Lee, who is Korean American, has a 4-year-old daughter. In recent days, their plight has drawn worldwide attention. "We appeal to the North Korean judicial authorities to show the utmost clemency, and we hope the trial will result in the acquittal and release of the two American journalists," Reporters Without Borders said in statement last week. "We urge the judges trying the case to follow the example set by their Iranian counterparts, who released U.S. journalist Roxana Saberi last month." Over the weekend, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had called for the women's release. Clinton said she has spoken with foreign officials with influence in North Korea and explored the possibility of sending an envoy to the North, but suggested that no one would be sent during the trial. Many say political uncertainty in North Korea cast a pall over the trial. After suffering a debilitating stroke last year, strongman Kim Jong Il is reportedly planning to name a successor, rumored to be his youngest son. The possible power vacuum has created a subtle battle of ideologies as communist hard-liners seek to crush those in favor of social reforms and a more open policy toward the West. In recent weeks, as the trial date got closer, state-run news in North Korea released condemnations of the women, alluding to their "confirmed crimes" and "illegally intruding into [North Korean] territory." Experts believe the trial serves as a political litmus test. They say North Korea had an opportunity to distinguish the journalists' case from the political realm and temper an international image further damaged by the nuclear test. But now those hopes have been cast into doubt with today's verdict. Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean studies, said the world will wait to see how Pyongyang handles its prisoners. "Now that the results came out from the trial, the next step will be a political pardon and a diplomatic resolution," he said. "It's highly likely that Al Gore will visit Pyongyang as early as late this week." |
The one on the right is Laura Ling.
Euna Lee
MSantor - July 10, 2009 04:53 AM (GMT)
Just an update on the two US journalists detained by North Korea.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090710/ap_on_...ournalists_held
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090710/ap_on_...ournalists_held
| QUOTE |
| Report: 2 US journalists staying in guest house AP 1 hr 22 mins ago SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea has not yet sent two convicted U.S. journalists to a prison labor camp in a possible attempt to seek talks with Washington on their release, a scholar who visited the North said in an interview published Friday. Laura Ling and Euna lee, who work for former U.S. Vice President Al Gore's California-based Current TV media group, are being kept at guest house in the North Korean capital and have not yet been sent to a prison camp as called for in their sentences, University of Georgia political scientist Han Park said. "I heard from North Korean officials that the American journalists were doing fine at a guest house in Pyongyang," Park told South Korea's JoongAng Ilbo newspaper. Park, originally from South Korea, arrived Thursday in Seoul following a trip to Pyongyang. Ling and Lee were detained near the North Korean border with China and were sentenced last month for to 12 years of hard labor for entering the country illegally and for "hostile acts." Park said North Korean officials were angry at the journalists for trying to produce a program critical of North Korea. But Park said the issue could be resolved. A South Korean who helped organize the journalists' reporting trip to China, the Rev. Chun Ki-won, said in April that the women traveled to the border region with North Korea to interview women and children who had fled the impoverished country. "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. Repeated calls to his hotel in Seoul went unanswered. 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 in March. Their detention comes as the U.S. is moving to enforce U.N. as well as its own sanctions against the communist regime for its May 25 nuclear test. The North also 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. |
MSantor - August 4, 2009 06:22 PM (GMT)
And now ex-Pres. Bill Clinton meets with Kim Jong Il to try to intercede for the two detained US journalists.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090804/ap_on_...urnalists_held/
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090804/ap_on_...urnalists_held/
| QUOTE |
| Bill Clinton meets with NKorean leader Kim Jong Il By JEAN H. LEE, Associated Press Writer Jean H. Lee, Associated Press Writer 1 hr 55 mins ago SEOUL, South Korea – Former President Bill Clinton met Tuesday with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il on the first day of a surprise mission to Pyongyang to negotiate the release of two Americans, holding "exhaustive" talks on a wide range of topics, state-run media said. Clinton "courteously" conveyed a verbal message from President Barack Obama, the official Korean Central News Agency said in a report from Pyongyang. Kim expressed his thanks, and engaged Clinton in a "wide-ranging exchange of views on matters of common concern," the report said. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, however, denied Clinton went with a message from Obama. "That's not true," he told reporters. Clinton was in communist North Korea on a mission to secure the freedom of Americans Euna Lee and Laura Ling, reporters for former Vice President Al Gore's Current TV media venture who were arrested along the Chinese-North Korean border in March and sentenced in June to 12 years of hard labor for illegal entry and engaging in "hostile acts." His landmark visit, which was not announced in advance by North Korea or the U.S., comes at a time of heightened tensions between Washington and Pyongyang, foes during the Korean War of the 1950s, over the regime's nuclear program. North Korea in recent months has conducted a nuclear test and test-fired an array of ballistic missiles in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions, with Washington leading the push to punish Pyongyang for its defiance. It's only the second visit to Pyongyang by a former U.S. leader. Jimmy Carter traveled to North Korea for talks with Kim's father, Kim Il Sung, in 1994 in a groundbreaking meeting during a time of similar tensions. Clinton's meeting with Kim would be the notoriously reclusive North Korean leader's first with a prominent Western figure since Kim reportedly suffered a stroke a year ago, sparking questions about the future of the nation he controls with absolute authority. Kim, said to have a taste for fine wines and fancy gourmet food, also is believed to suffer from chronic diabetes and heart disease. The man who once sported a noticeable pot belly has appeared gaunt and gray in recent months. Though Clinton was in North Korea on a private basis, his visit was treated by North Korea as a high-profile visit, with senior officials — including Kim Kye Gwan, the vice foreign minister who serves as the country's chief nuclear negotiator — meeting him on the tarmac. Footage from the APTN television news agency showed the arriving Clinton exchanging warm handshakes with the officials and accepting a bouquet of flowers from a schoolgirl. Kim later hosted a banquet for Clinton at the state guesthouse, Radio Pyongyang and the Korean Central Broadcasting Station reported. Photos in state-run media of the visit showed Kim, with a broad smile, standing next to a solemn-looking Clinton. The two also posed with Clinton's party in front of a mural, and another picture showed the men and others seated around a conference table. Though Clinton does not hold office, his stature and good relations with Pyongyang could yield positive results, analysts said. "This is a very potentially rewarding trip. Not only is it likely to resolve the case of the two American journalists detained in North Korea for many months, but it could be a very significant opening and breaking this downward cycle of tension and recrimination between the U.S. and North Korea," Mike Chinoy, author of "Meltdown: The Inside Story of the North Korean Nuclear Crisis," said in Beijing. There was no word in state media on the status of Clinton's negotiations to secure the release of Ling, 32, and Lee, 36. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton last month urged North Korea to grant the women amnesty, saying they were remorseful and that their families were anguished. Lee, a South Korean-born U.S. citizen, is married and has a 4-year-old daughter in Los Angeles; a native Californian, Ling is the married younger sister of TV journalist Lisa Ling. Clinton's administration had rocky but relatively good relations with Pyongyang, and both he and Gore, his vice president, had been named as possible envoys to bring back Lee and Ling. Also mentioned was New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who in the 1990s traveled twice to North Korea to secure the freedom of detained Americans. However, the decision to send the former president was kept quiet. A senior U.S. official told reporters traveling Tuesday with Hillary Rodham Clinton that the White House would not comment on the trip to Pyongyang until the mission was complete. "While this solely private mission to secure the release of two Americans is on the ground, we will have no comment," Gibbs, the White House spokesman, said later in a statement from Washington. "We do not want to jeopardize the success of former President Clinton's mission." In New York, the Committee to Protect Journalists said it was encouraged by reports about Clinton's trip. "This is welcome news and we are pleased to see movement in this case," said Bob Dietz, the group's Asia program coordinator. "The fate of these two women should not be linked to broader issues on the Korean peninsula, and to see both sides make a move toward the release of these reporters will bring some relief to them, their families and friends." ___ Associated Press writers Jae-soon Chang in Seoul, Matthew Lee at Naval Station Rota, Spain, and AP researcher Jasmine Zhao in Beijing contributed to this report. ___ On the Net: http://www.lauraandeuna.com |
MSantor - August 4, 2009 10:44 PM (GMT)
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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has issued a "special pardon" to two American journalists convicted of sneaking into the country illegally, and he ordered them released during a visit by former U.S. President Bill Clinton, North Korean media reported Tuesday. The release of Laura Ling and Euna Lee was a sign of North Korea's "humanitarian and peaceloving policy," the Korean Central News Agency reported. Clinton, who arrived in North Korea earlier in the day on an unannounced visit, met with the reclusive and ailing Kim — his first meeting with a prominent Western figure since his reported stroke nearly a year ago. North Korea accused Ling, 32, and Lee, 36, of sneaking into the country illegally in March and engaging in "hostile acts," and the nation's top court sentenced them in June to 12 years of hard labor. |
I wonder what the DPRK propaganda machine will make of this?
saver111 - August 5, 2009 01:46 PM (GMT)
In this photo released by Korean Central News Agency via Korea News Service in Tokyo, former U.S. President Bill Clinton, right, meets with North Korean Leader Kim Jong Il, left, front, in Pyonggyang, North Korea,Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2009. At Clinton's right is former White House chief of staff John Podesta, others are unidentified. Clinton met Tuesday with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il on the first day of a surprise visit to Pyongyang, holding 'exhaustive' talks that covered a wide range of topics, state-run media said. (AP Photo/Korean Central News Agency via Korea News Service) JAPAN OUT
Former U.S. president Bill Clinton (seated L) and North Korea's leader Kim Jong-il (seated R) pose for a picture in Pyongyang in this photo released by North Korean official news agency KCNA August 4, 2009. REUTERS/KCNA
U.S. journalists Laura Ling (L) and Euna Lee (2nd R) head to a chartered plane at an airport in Pyongyang August 5, 2009. REUTERS/Kyodo
A photo released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency shows former US President Bill Clinton greeting two US journalists Laura Ling (in green) and Euna Lee (red) after winning their release from the communist country as they leave Pyongyang airport to the US in a chartered plane. Meanwhile, the hardline communist state savoured its highest-level American visit in almost a decade. (AFP/KCNA via KNS)
American journalists Laura Ling (top) and Euna Lee disembark from the plane that brought them back from North Korea in Burbank, California August 5, 2009. Former President Bill Clinton met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il to release the two women after months of detention. REUTERS/Danny Moloshok (UNITED STATES POLITICS IMAGES OF THE DAY)
Freed U.S. journalist Euna Lee © is embraced by her husband Michael Saldate (top) and daughter Hana Saldate after arriving with Laura Ling and former President Bill Clinton in Burbank, California August 5, 2009. Ling, 32, and Lee, 36, American journalists freed by North Korea from months of detention, returned to U.S. soil early on Wednesday accompanied by Clinton, who secured their release in a meeting with the hermit state's leader Kim Jong-il. REUTERS/Danny Moloshok (UNITED STATES POLITICS MEDIA IMAGES OF THE DAY)
REUTERS/Danny Moloshok (UNITED STATES POLITICS MEDIA)
In this image made from AP Television News, former Vice President Al Gore , center, watches as journalists Laura Ling, left and Euna Lee speak after arriving at the Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, Calif. early Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2009. Former President Bill Clinton says he's 'very happy' that the pair of American journalists have been freed from imprisonment in North Korea. (AP Photo/AP Television News)
MSantor - August 9, 2009 12:26 AM (GMT)
So now they admit this? :armyeek:
Huffington Post, via the Associated Press: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/07/l...0_n_253750.html
Huffington Post, via the Associated Press: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/07/l...0_n_253750.html
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LOS ANGELES -- Laura Ling's sister says the two American journalists briefly touched North Korean soil before they were captured and detained for months in that communist country. "She said that it was maybe 30 seconds and then everything got chaotic. It's a very powerful story, and she does want to share it," Lisa Ling told CNN Thursday. <snip> Laura Ling told her family she was treated humanely, but meals were meager and her phone calls were monitored, Lisa Ling said. "She had two guards in her room at all times, morning and night. And even though they couldn't speak to her, somehow they developed a strange sort of kinship, Lisa Ling said. "She had some really lovely things to say about the people who were watching over her." The reporter passed her time in captivity reading, walking circles around her cell for exercise and planning when she would wash her hair, because water service was intermittent, Lisa Ling said. At Laura Ling's house on a quiet residential street in the San Fernando Valley, a man who identified himself as her brother-in-law came to the door and said politely that she wasn't ready to speak about her ordeal yet. Lisa Ling said her sister plans to write an editorial explaining what happened and how she was captured. |