Tuesday, June 09, 2009
Laura Ling
About the only thing Laura Ling and Euna Lee are guilty of is bad timing. The two television reporters were captured in March after allegedly entering North Korea via its border with China, just before a series of events that has resulted in tense relations between Pyongyang and the United States. Although many experts believe the two women won’t serve the full 12 years of their sentence in a labor camp, and may be released as a result of diplomatic negotiations between North Korea and U.S., it still could be months or longer before Ling and Lee are freed.
Many political experts were surprised by the decision of North Korea’s highest court against Ling and Lee. Observers attributed the lengthy sentence to the current transition in North Korea’s leadership and events that have transpired over the past couple of months. In addition to Kim Jong Il deciding to hand power over to his 26-year-old son, Pyongyang launched a long-range missile in April, detonated a nuclear bomb in May, renounced the truce that ended the Korean War, and is preparing more missiles tests that could come this week. These actions have produced a backlash of international protest, not only from the U.S. but also China, Russia and the United Nations.
North Korea has released captured Americans before, after obtaining food, fuel or other concessions through diplomatic talks. Andrei Lankov, an expert on North Korea who teaches at Kookmin University in Seoul, told the media that the verdict means little because he expects the women to be released. The question is when. “Unfortunately, right now the North Koreans want to keep tensions high, so it will take many months and perhaps a year or more before the Pyongyang authorities will decide that it’s time to make some friendly gesture to Washington,” said Lankov.
According to Swedish diplomats who have visited Ling and Lee, the two women are doing okay and have been allowed to send and receive letters through Sweden’s ambassador to North Korea. The United States does not have diplomatic relations with North Korea.
Ling and Lee, who were working for Current TV, were accompanied by an American cameraman and producer, Mitch Koss, who is back in the United States, but not talking to the media.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
North Korea Convicts 2 U.S. Journalists (by Blaine Harden, Washington Post)
N. Korea Sentences 2 U.S. Journalists to 12 Years of Hard Labor (by Choe Sang-Hun, New York Times)
North Korea Jails US Journalists (BBC News)
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