Dear North Korea: Free Laura and Euna (Now)
Now that the ‘legal system’ in North Korea has ‘run its course’, it is imperative that the Obama administration help facilitate a diplomatic agreement, separate and exclusive of any nuclear non-proliferation discussions, to free American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee.
Ling, 32, and Lee, 36, both reporters for San Francisco-based Current TV, were sentenced after being accused of a ‘grave crime’ against the North Korean state, according to global media reports.
Their sentence: 12 years in a North Korean labor camp. Their families in the United States are now anxiously hoping the U.S. government can help negotiate a diplomatic rapprochement that will help bring the detained journalists home.
The San Jose Mercury News reported that concern about the women’s safety grew more intense when the rogue nation threatened to use nuclear weapons in a “merciless offensive” if provoked. Meanwhile, North Korea’s critics in the West — including John Bolton, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations — decried the capture as a “kidnapping” and an “act of state terror.”
According to the Boston Globe, both Ling and Lee were investigating a story for Current TV on alleged North Korean defectors to China when they were apprehended by North Korean soldiers on March 17. They were charged with crossing the border from China with intent to commit “hostile acts.” Still, for many within the international community, the circumstances of their arrest remain quite unclear. Human rights observers and members of the press were not allowed to attend their trial, and therefore it is hard to know if they actually crossed the border, or if they had even done so inadvertently.
Gotham Chopra, a former Current TV colleague and close friend of Laura Ling (who is the sister of former The View co-host Lisa Ling) has written extensively on their case for Intent.com. Chopra told me the current incarceration of the American women and this “situation should not be tied into the larger geo-political one in which North Korea’s nuclear tests are involved.” Chopra went on to say that “President Obama has a rapidly evolving ‘hostage crisis’ on his hands and his steadfast belief that diplomacy can resolve any conflict will be tested by dealings with a regime that really has shown little in the way of predictability.”
This case is similar to that of detained American journalist Roxana Saberi who was imprisoned in Iran but was released last month. It is essential to our global conversation that international journalists of all colors, races and religions never be harmed (in any way) within any corner of the world. Upholding the noble pursuits to journalism, Euna Lee and Laura Ling were just trying to help give a voice to those who have been voiceless for far too long.
Editor’s Note: Arsalan Iftikhar is an international human rights lawyer, founder of TheMuslimGuy.com and is a contributing editor for Islamica magazine in Washington. This column also appeared on CNN Anderson Cooper 360
Comments (5)
thank you for this, arsalan. it is so important to emphasize that both laura and euna were fighting on behalf of those who are not allowed a voice. now it is important that we return the favor and give voice to them.
Agreed with what kafka said. Thank you for continuing to bring light to this grave global situation, Arsalan.
Anyone that has not already written a letter via Amnesty International, please consider it.
www.amnestyusa.org
Yesterdays e mail from them:
North Korean gulag - stop cruel imprisonment of U.S. journalists
North Korea's government sentenced two U.S. journalists on Monday to more than a decade of hard labor in one of the world's most closed and oppressive prison systems.
Given all we know about the appalling prison conditions in North Korea, we need your help to ensure that the two journalists aren't forced to serve their sentences. Decades of monitoring and research by Amnesty have revealed that North Korean prisoners are worked beyond exhaustion, often into illness and death.
Guards beat prisoners suspected of lying, not working fast enough or for forgetting the words to patriotic songs. Forms of punishment included forced exercise, sitting without moving for prolonged periods of time and public humiliation.1
The global community must send a clear message to Pyongyang that it won't tolerate the callous decision to turn two innocent U.S. journalists into pawns in a geopolitical chess match.
North Korean authorities have held Laura Ling and Euna Lee in solitary confinement for nearly three months. The two have had limited contact with consular authorities and their families – including Lee's 4-year-old daughter.
The Obama administration has undertaken a full-court press in recent days, using every instrument in its diplomatic toolkit to persuade the North Korean government to release the journalists.
But other strategically important members of the global community need to step up if they are to be freed.
China is our best hope of seeing Laura and Euna returned to safety. Beijing exerts unmatched influence over the North Korean regime as its staunchest ally, largest trading partner and most important supplier of food and energy.2 China has succeeded in bringing Pyongyang to the negotiating table, even when all other efforts have failed.
China's joining in the global chorus condemning North Korea's cruel actions could be the crucial step needed to free these journalists.
Lend your voice today to our call on China to intervene on behalf of Laura and Euna.
We've pulled out all the stops over the past two days to find an email address to send your appeals to, but China clearly doesn't want to hear what we have to say, and has shut off all publicly known addresses. But they don't understand that you and I, as members of Amnesty's global movement, don't give up so easily.
Sincerely,
Jack Rendler
Country Specialist for North Korea
Amnesty International USA
Nancy D Davis never gives up.
AI member.
We will find a way.
Arsalan, thank you for this info. I signed the Amnesty International petition, only took a minute.
I have a question, maybe someone knows the answer:"
Who hired the ethnic Korean guide, a citizen of China, that led the 3 Current TV reporters into the dangerous Tumen River border area?
Where is that guide now?
Why won't eyewitness Mitch Koss (and his Current TV comrades) tell us exactly what happened on March 17 so that it won't be unclear which side of the border Euna and Laura were captured?"
this was from another post, but paraphrased here ,as I thought very pertinent.
Anyone know anything about this?
I have been posting articles about this on my FB site, as it seems there is a bit of a "black-out" on this story in this country, except alternative press( we should be hearing more about this...).
Thanks for spreading the word, we need to all ask President Obama to focus intent on freeing them from this horrible place.