TV Current's Laura Ling and Euna Lee
SAN FRANCISCO, CA-- The two reporters for Al Gore’s TV Current, an on-line journal based in San Francisco, who have been held since March, were found guilty of illegal entry and sentenced to 12 years hard labor, the North Korean news agency said on Monday.
Al Gore and his on-line network have yet to speak out on the actions by the North Korean government -- the arrest and now the sentencing.
The pair, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, were arrested by the North Korean authorities on March 17, after traveling through northern China to the North Korean border to do a story on trafficking of North Korean women.
They may not have even been in North Korea at the time of their arrest. North Korean border guards probably crossed the Tumen (the river that forms the border) while Ling and Lee were filming on the Chinese bank, according to Reporters without Borders.
There were many comments to my April 21, 2009 post when I criticized Gore for failing to speak out on behalf of his journalists. Several irate readers assured us that negotiations were occurring behind the scenes.
Then on June 4, 2009 Reuters reported that the U.S. might send former vice president Al Gore to Pyongyang in order to negotiate the release of two American journalists on trial in North Korea for illegal entry.
Too little and too late.
There’s been a virtual news blackout at Gore’s TV Current, his on-line TV station has suppressed readers’ comments, refused to report the story about his own reporters. TV Current even posted a guard to keep the press out, as reported by the SF Weekly.
Now, the two journalists, Ling and Lee, have been convicted and sentenced.
Then and now, the former Vice President remains silent.
His silence in March, through April, through May has left the two pawns in the standoff between the U.S. and North Korea.
North Korea has defied the U.S. by conducing prohibited missile tests. Now they have insulted the U.S. by sentencing two likely innocent journalists to hard labor. It is an embarrassment to this country, shameful for the former vice president, and a tragedy for the two journalists.
Comments
If Diane Sawyer were there, we'd be at war now.
Al Gore needs to step up to the plate and protect his employees.
Well, did North Korean authorities go into South Korea to kidnap these two, or were they actually inside North Korea at the time of their arrest, and therefore guilty of the charges?
I haven't read any claim that they are actually innocent. It is after all a very serious crime to enter North Korea. They are lucky they weren't shot while crossing the border.
Al Gore needs take action immediately. I suggest an all-star negotation team leave immediately for N. Korea with the goal of bringing these two journalists back at whatever cost. VP Gore should use his influence to persuade Jimmy Carter, Colin Powell, Al Franken, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Chris Matthews to go over there and begin intense negotations to bring the reporters back. Godspeed.
I have read that the two journalists were led across the border in a state of (truly unacceptable) ignorance, or that they were in the middle of the river, or that they were abducted across the border. But their cameraman has reportedly been back in the states for a while. Why do we have to speculate about what happened? What does he say? [I have read that the guide, who was not picked up by the North Koreans, has disappeared].
NPR has been doing a better job of reporting on this than most - it sounds like what the two ladies and their cameraman did in even venturing up to the border was foolish, and that they may have been warned against it.
It's tragic for their families, but difficult foreign policy cannot be endangered by journalists with poor judgment. If Al Gore's news agency gave the ladies their blessing or let them proceed in ignorance of what they planned to do, I think it's incumbent on Mr. Gore, not the US government, to try to get them out.
Well, it gets more interesting - the cameraman was more than just a cameraman - from the Epicanthus site:
"At the time of their arrest, Lee and Ling were accompanied by veteran newsman Mitchell Koss, executive producer of Current TV’s elite Vanguard Journalism reporting unit. Koss managed to elude capture."
He was held by the Chinese for several days and is then released. The guide was still being held by the Chinese when Koss was released. "After returning to the United States, Koss has refused all requests for interviews and has dropped out of sight."
Sounds to me like we should have more info than we do. Makes me fear that the trio did do something foolish. Epicanthus describes them as filming fleeing North Koreans when they were captured.
Sounds to me like somebody at State Dept has counseled silence from Vice President Gore and Mitchell Koss. This may not have been the right strategy, but the concerted silence from everybody suggests this might have been their reasoning.
Imagine if Gore had been elected President! Al-Qaeda would be talking to us from Paris and Iran would be arresting every American they could find. This guy is pathetic.
Al Gore is a fraud and Current TV sucks. Kim Jung Il is the only one with the guts to do something about it.
Al Gore is not going to go to Korea because it is not large enough of a carbon footprint for his typical travel schedule.
Good post. One copy-edit fix. It's Current TV, not TV Current. Again, good post.
this fraud will gore the country with his get richer quicker and control all the hamburgers and vehicles schemes. As this latest character flaw revelation attests, he cares for none other than himself. A snake in wolf's clothing he is, and has endeared himself to many other wolves too eager to swallow his tripe on climate change formerly sensibly known as the sun doing what the sun does cyclically. Why does anyone continue to listen to this man? I am glad his chicanery will soon be revealed for the scam that it is and this latest event will help bring that about.
Doesn't anyone think it would be inappropriate for Al Gore to butt his nose into the international affairs of the US and North Korea at a time where we appear to be heading for war? Only an idiot like Dick Cheney would act like that.
Yea... Except that I don't think Diane Sawyer would have put herselr in that position.
The US has never been allowed to influence foriegn govts polocies on punishment of our citizens when abroad.
Think back if you will to the young man cained for spray painting cars...
And the two girls arrested for smuggling (unknowingly)drugs...
The US govt could do nothing to keep these people from being punished. Why should they be able to now.
I do think it is tragic. but dont know why we think the US Govt can do anything to get these girls back. Wouldnt that be like negotiating with terroist? We are talking about N' Korea after all!
Obviously Al Gore was acting behind the scenes, as today's news proves. He apparently knew how best to deal with this delicate situation.
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