Why Is Current Taking No Heat Over Euna Lee And Laura Ling?

I suspected this to be the case.

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 4 -- One woman approached China's border with North Korea as a seasoned foreign correspondent, the other as a sharp editor who was on her first trip abroad in her new role as a producer.

I knew Euna Lee as an editor. Her first producing assignment was to go to... North Korea? And the only possible reason for that is that she spoke Korean and grew up in Seoul.

This is not to say that she's not a smart person, or that she is overly aggressive. And yes, someone fluent in Korean would be helpful in chronicling the story. But in the field, the producer makes the decisions. The "seasoned foreign correspondent" does not. And so Current TV sent a first-time producer to perhaps the most dangerous place on Earth. They played on her ambition and figured just anyone who spoke Korean and who they could pay cheaply would do. And when things went catastrophically wrong, they shut their traps about it and censored material on their website. Now that they've been released, it's a Laura Ling film festival on Current.

(That whole "seasoned foreign correspondent" thing about Laura Ling, by the way? I've seen a couple segments. One has her walking through a 7-11 shop in China picking out different snacks. The story they were sent to do in the border region was about human trafficking. That's several orders of magnitude different.)

The "citizen journalist" model is great and all, but air-dropping unseasoned people into war zones and giving them none of the resources to succeed produces outcomes like this. And it's completely unfair to the two women, who were brave in their ordeal. You have to blame the management decision to send them there. They treat their staff like spare parts, giving them no training or resources, and send them abroad to essentially poke a bear with a sharp stick.

This is not an uninformed armchair opinion, by the way. I know people at Current. OSHA should step in.

...All that said, John Bolton should have offered to serve a substitute sentence of 12 years hard labor in a prison camp if he wants to keep his country's manly neocon manliness intact. I'm sure nobody would miss him.

How obvious was it that Fred Hiatt would ring up Bolton to write an op-ed about this?

Fantastic News

My friend Euna Lee is coming home.

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 early Wednesday.

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 Tuesday 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.

Euna and Laura Ling have been in North Korean custody since St. Patrick's Day. Activists have worked tirelessly for this release, and the high-profile visit by President Clinton worked.

Tremendous.

UPDATE: Media turning this into Bill Clinton "upstaging" the White House. Uh, what? Also the usual suspects, John Bolton et al talking about Clinton used as a "propaganda tool." You'd almost think they would rather have two American citizens rot in a North Korean labor camp....

God, they really can't get over their Clinton obsession.

...the Bolton video. Maybe he should visit Euna Lee's family and tell her how their daughter needs to stay in a prison cell because anything else would send a bad message.

Big Dog To Pyongyang

Great news.

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton is on his way to North Korea to try to negotiate the release of two American journalists convicted by the communist state of "grave crimes," South Korea's Yonhap news agency said on Tuesday.

Clinton had already left for the North but had not yet arrived in Pyongyang, Yonhap said in a report from Washington quoting a source familiar with the issue.

"As soon as he arrives, he will be entering negotiations with the North for the release of the female journalists," the source was quoted as saying.

Clinton wouldn't embark for North Korea without knowing he would be let in and have something to negotiate. He met with Kim Jong-il today.

The residual benefit of a former President showing respect to the North Koreans could be that it restarts nuclear talks. All the DPRK really seems to want is respect.

But I'm more concerned about Euna Lee and Laura Ling, and the fact that diplomatic talks are underway is a great sign. Fingers crossed.

Lee And Ling Sentenced To 12 Years

North Korea sentenced Euna Lee and Laura Ling to 12 years hard labor for illegally crossing the border with China and committing unspecified "hostile acts." I think everyone expected this development as a prelude to negotiations to release the two Current TV journalists. Considering how largely responsible his network is for this situation, Al Gore should be on a plane right now.

Now Lee and Ling are bargaining chips in a larger game, tied up in the discussions over North Korea's nuclear tests. The US may add the DPRK back to the list of state sponsors of terrorism, which would add new sanctions, and may try to interdict North Korean ships suspected of carrying nuclear weapons materials (how exactly do they know?), which I think would consign Lee and Ling to that prison camp for a long time. Obviously the US would prefer to have the issues decoupled, but that's hardly possible now.

It's very frustrating to feel like there's nothing to do about this.

Not So Current

The vigil last night in Los Angeles for Euna Lee and Laura Ling, the two journalists detained in North Korea and put on trial today, brought over 500 people to a neighborhood restaurant in Santa Monica, featuring the Lee and Ling families, Tia Carrere, soon to be Congresswoman Judy Chu, and a number of spoken word and musical artists. CNN carried a live interview on Anderson Cooper 360 with Lisa Ling and the husbands of the two detainees, where the families asked for dialogue and diplomacy and not to conflate this situation with the nuclear standoff between the North Koreans and the West. Even Roxana Saberi, the US journalist detained and then released in Iran, sent a letter of support.

You know who hasn't said a peep? Their employer.

While the story gets widespread international attention, Current TV has been absolutely silent on it—going so far as to pull user-submitted stories on the case from its own site. A search of Current.com this morning turns up only one single user-submitted Yahoo news article on the case, which had been posted less than 30 minutes ago. This, even while the story was simultaneously on the front page of NYTimes.com, and while Ling's celebrity sister is desperately trying to get publicity for her case.

Why the hell is Current so quiet about the fate of its own reporters? We emailed and asked them earlier this week, but they haven't responded to us. But a tipster tells us that Current's top management made the conscious decision to "silence" the issue, and that Current employees have been instructed not to discuss it.

I'll tell you why they're so silent. They're RESPONSIBLE. They put these young journalists in dangerous situations without any concern, clearly, for their well-being, and when it blows up in their face they would rather ignore the issue that admit fault. It's been a consistent pattern of airlifting young journalists into war zones and basically giving them a sharp stick and telling them to poke a bear.

I'm sure the State Department has told them to keep quiet. But I'm sure they told the family to keep quiet too, and they didn't. It's a really disgusting display, or lack thereof, by Current, and Al Gore should be ashamed of himself.

Help Euna Lee and Laura Ling Leave North Korea

While the case of Roxana Saberi stirred enough attention in the media to extract her release from Iran, the similar case of two journalists detained in North Korea since March has not been given the same level of notoreity. The Current TV journalists, Euna Lee and Laura Ling, will stand trial for "hostile acts" against the DPRK on Thursday, and their families are speaking out after months of silence, calling for the United States to work for the girls' release.

"Our families have been quiet because the situation is very sensitive and we've been really trying to allow diplomacy to take its course," Lisa Ling, Laura's sister, said on CNN's "Larry King Live" on Monday night. "But you know, you'd have to be hiding under a rock not to see what's going on in the Korean Peninsula.

"I mean tensions are so heated," she continued, "and the girls are essentially in the midst of this nuclear standoff."

Late last month, North Korea conducted nuclear and missile tests, drawing the condemnation of the U.N. Security Council.

"We just felt like it was time for us to talk publicly and try and encourage our two governments to try to communicate, to try and bring our situation to a resolution on humanitarian grounds -- to separate the issues," said Ling, who is a special correspondent with CNN.

As I may have mentioned before, I actually know Euna Lee. I worked with her briefly when I lived in San Francisco. And I encourage everyone to speak out and intensify the international spotlight on this issue. The two journalists have basically become bargaining chips, as the North Koreans continue their nuclear and missile tests and generally behave belligerently toward the West. We need to extricate themselves from this so they are not caught in the crossfire.

Some friends in San Francisco have put together some action items to help raise the profile of the case. There's a petition to release Lee and Ling on humanitarian grounds. And today, there will be nationwide vigils in the US and Canada. Find the vigil in your area at the Facebook site.

San Francisco
steps of City Hall, 6pm

Los Angeles
Wokcano, 1413 5th Street, Santa Monica, 6:30pm

Sacramento
L Wine Lounge & Urban Kitchen, 1801 L Street, 6:30pm

Please participate if you can.

The Other Imprisoned Journalists

I'm pleased that Roxana Saberi has been released by the Iranian government. Clearly they found the public relations hit too much to take, and this augurs well for their sensitivity to global public opinion and their desire to put negotiations with the US over their nuclear program on a firm footing.

There's more than one journalist held as a political prisoner around the world, however, some by this country's military in the Middle East. Those are important, but I want to hone in on the journalist I actually know now being held in North Korea. Things are not improving on that front:

Under international criminal law, defendants have the right to access diplomatic officers of their own state. But American journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling, detained for nearly two months, haven't been allowed contact with Western officials since March 30. A South Korean man known only by his surname, Yu, also has been kept from any contact with officials from his country, according to the South's Unification Ministry.

The North said on April 24 that it would put the two women on trial for "hostile acts," in what would be its first trial of Americans, but it didn't say when. It has given no details to the U.S. or to Sweden, which has diplomatic relations with North Korea and provides services to U.S. citizens in the country.

Mats Foyer, the Swedish ambassador in Pyongyang, met with Ms. Lee and Ms. Ling separately on March 30. He declined to comment on the situation late last week, and referred questions to the State Department. An official there said Mr. Foyer has "repeatedly requested additional visits," but none have been allowed.

U.S. officials have said less about Ms. Lee and Ms. Ling than they have about an American reporter, Roxana Saberi, who was recently convicted of espionage in Iran. The strategy is partly a gamble that not provoking the North Koreans may lead to a speedy resolution, analysts say, but it's also a sign of the increased uncertainty in dealing with Pyongyang.

We've actually made connections with the Iranian government under Obama, but less so with North Korea. Euna Lee and Laura Ling are paying for the lack of outreach.

Paging Bill Richardson

First I heard that my acquaintance Euna Lee was captured at the border by North Korea. Then I heard she was headed to Pyongyang. And now I hear that they are putting her on trial.

SEOUL (AFP) – North Korea is preparing to indict two detained US journalists after it accused them of illegally entering the communist country, state media said early Tuesday.

"The illegal entry of US reporters into the DPRK and their suspected hostile acts have been confirmed by evidence and their statements," the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

The report said "a competent organ of the DPRK (North Korea)" had investigated the pair.

"The organ is carrying on its investigation and, at the same time, making a preparation for indicting them at a trial on the basis of the already confirmed suspicions," the report said.

The pair, Euna Lee, a Korean-American, and Laura Ling, a Chinese-American, who work for Current TV in California, would be allowed consular access and would be treated according to international law, it added.

This could not have come at a better time for the North Koreans, just when they are forcing a confrontation over what they term a satellite launch but which the international community considers a missile test. Obviously they are using Lee and Ling as bait so they can continue their launch without American interference.

There is really only one man for this job.

Pyongyang has in the past freed Americans it has detained.

In 1996, former US congressman Bill Richardson negotiated the release of US citizen Evan Hunziker, who had been detained for three months on suspicion of spying after swimming the Yalu river.

Richardson, who is now the governor of New Mexico, at the time described Hunziker as a confused young man who had engaged in an "adventuresome frolic apparently under the influence of alcohol."

In 1994, Richardson helped negotiate the release of a US military helicopter pilot shot down after straying into North Korea.

Dear Bill Richardson,

You are wanted in Pyongyang.

Best,
D-Day

Yay, My Friend Is A Pawn In An Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Game

I'm beginning to understand why my friend Euna Lee and her colleague were taken into custody by the North Koreans last week. Obviously they are being used as bargaining chips, but apparently that leverage will be put to immediate use:

North Korea has placed a long-range missile on a launch pad before a test that the United States, Japan and South Korea said would violate a United Nations Security Council resolution, a news report said Thursday.

Spy satellites detected what looked to be a Taepodong-2 missile in place Tuesday at the Musudan-ri launch site near North Korea’s northeastern coast, said Chosun Ilbo, South Korea’s leading daily, quoting an unidentified diplomatic source.
Once the rocket is installed on the pad, missile experts said, the North Koreans can technically launch it within three or four days — the time needed for the fueling of a three-stage rocket.

North Korea has said it would launch a rocket over Japan and the Pacific between April 4 and 8 to deliver an experimental communications satellite into orbit. But Washington, Tokyo and Seoul have said the launch is a cover for testing its Taepodong-2 ballistic missile. Both missions — the satellite and the ballistic missile — use the same rocket technology.

Obviously the American reaction to this is bound to be tempered by the fact that Pyongyang has two American journalists in their custody. While the Secretary of State has called for sanctions if the missile launch goes forward, and Japan has put interceptor missiles on alert and dispatched warships toward the peninsula, with Lee and Ling captured, the opposition is bound to be toothless.

This just makes me feel great on a Friday!

The Detainees In North Korea

Just a quick word on this: it is exceedingly weird to me to know the subject of a major news story, and even weirder to know the subject of an international incident. Euna Lee is an editor I knew briefly when I lived in San Francisco, as we worked at the same place. She moved on to Current TV and was sent to China to film around the Tumen River border area with North Korea. North Korean authorities picked up her and her fellow journalist Laura Ling and have detained them for several days now, claiming that they entered DPRK territory. The latest reports put the two in Pyongyang, and the State Department has opened talks for their release.

It is completely irresponsible of Current to send these two young women alone to a dangerous border region, particularly at a time when the North Korean government wants to test their limits with a new Administration. Current's whole "citizen journalist" model doesn't mean you airdrop citizens into difficult circumstances and essentially ask them to poke a bear with a stick. But at this point, we have to hope the State Department can extract their release. Give them a second of your thoughts if you can. I don't really know what else can be done, but if you have ideas, throw them in the comments.