North Korea confirms journalists detained

[SoCalDem]

North Korea confirms journalists detained

REFUGEE REPORT: One of the two journalists detained for ‘intruding’ into North Korea is a member of a Taiwanese family that emigrated to the US several years ago

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2009/03/22/2003439051

AFP AND AP , SEOUL
Sunday, Mar 22, 2009, Page 5

North Korea yesterday confirmed that it had detained two US journalists along the border with China earlier this week, amid tensions in the region over Pyongyang’s plans for a rocket launch. The US State Department had expressed concern over the fate of the two women, who are believed to have been taken into custody by border guards patrolling the Tumen river, a common escape route for those fleeing the North. “Two Americans were detained on March 17 while illegally intruding into the territory of the DPRK by crossing the DPRK-China border,” the official Korean Central News Agency said in a three-line dispatch. “A competent organ is now investigating the case.”

Diplomatic sources and media reports identified the two women as Taiwanese-American Laura Ling (凌蘿拉) and Euna Lee, a Korean-American, who work for the San Francisco-based online news outlet Current TV, which was founded by former US vice president Al Gore and tycoon Joel Hyatt. A diplomatic source said the two were held by security guards over “suspected border violations” after being caught on Tuesday shooting video on the North’s side of the river. A third member of the crew, cameraman Mitch Koss, and a guide eluded capture but were being held in China, the Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported on Friday. Their whereabouts were unclear.

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The family emigrated from Taiwan to the US several years ago and now lives in Los Angeles. Laura Ling’s older sister, Lisa Ling (凌蘿拉), a former co-host of the American TV talk show The View and now a correspondent for National Geographic Channel’s Explorer, has declined to comment. Tales about life on the run from repressive North Korea — women who end up at the mercy of human traffickers, children who grow up in hiding — had drawn the team of US reporters to the border. “Spent the day interviewing young N. Koreans who escaped their country. Too many sad stories,” Laura Ling wrote on her Twitter page.

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Washington is in contact with North Korea about the two detained journalists, US State Department officials said. US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton “is engaged on this matter right now,” spokesman Robert Wood told reporters on Friday. “There is a lot of diplomacy going on. There have been a number of contacts made.”