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Comment RSSDetained American journalists to stand trial (Update)
March 30, 2009 # 10:41 pm # North Korea # 4 Comments
Update: According to CNN, a Swede diplomat said they are being treated well.
Acting on behalf of the United States, the Swedish representative met with each American once, said department spokesman Gordon Duguid. He would give no details of the meeting or of the journalists’ health or condition.
Laura Ling and Euna Lee were taken into custody March 17 along the China-North Korea border. They are reporters for the San Francisco, California-based media outlet Current TV. Earlier, the State Department said it had received information that the journalists were being treated well.
(Hat tip: PannieMonster) According to the Associated Press, two American journalists nabbed by North Korean authorities two weeks ago will stand trial.
Since this story broke, and the world is watching this story take place, this has me very worried. Some lines in the article stood out, and a lot of questions remain unanswered. Since I do not have any special inside track on what is going on, and I have to rely on news wires, it is very difficult to read between the lines. The biggest concern I have is, I really hope these two journalists will come home safely. And my guess is, they are being used as a political pawn. Very scary, very tragic, and my thoughts and prayers go to the families concerned.
As I said, some lines stood out:
“The illegal entry of U.S. reporters into the DPRK and their suspected hostile acts have been confirmed by evidence and their statements,” the report said, referring to the country by its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
The report did not elaborate on what “hostile acts” the journalists allegedly committed.
I can only think of the Pueblo incident, and they are being used for propaganda purposes. Beside that, I fear for their safety. I cannot say how they are doing, and I hope they are being treated fairly. This may be obvious, but I will be watching this story carefully as this story unfolds.
Stay tuned.
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From a PR perspective, anything other than sending these journalists back shortly would be idiotic for the DPRK. Illegal border crossing or not.. Anyway, surely the DPRK couldn’t be so stupid as to go ahead with a trial and possibly send these two to a ‘re-education’ camp! Didn’t they get bad enough PR from the kidnappings of Japanese citizens….? One of the journalists is actually the sister of a well-known US media profile. No doubt the journalists will be on a plane to Beijing in the near future. But it’s sure hard to imagine why intelligent professionals would have taken such an incredibly big risk as crossing illegally into the DPRK. Another thing that surprises me is that they were alone. What about other team members of the media crew?
Thanks for your comments and reply. What I posted was merely a guess, and most likely the truth is less glamorous.
DPRK law is the same as former USSR. If you are an ethnic Korean, from their point of view, you are DPRK citizen, DPRK claims its representing all Koreans. So. Are these journalists ethnically Koreans? If so, they could be staying in Korea for ever (in the worst case scenario that is)
lol. wtf r those weak n pussy politicians waiting for? get ready for full-scale war, strike first, kill Kim(berly) Jung Il and any motherfucker stupid enough to worship him as god! then launch search and rescue mission to get the journalist and other North Korean civilians who is smart enough to ignore retarded tranny kim’s propaganda, then lay waste to the remaining rubbish people and land with thermonuclear weapons until no sign of life is left. after it is all over, let the south korean people rebuilt that land.
Finally, north and south korea is united, no more standoff n other crap