North Korea Detains Two U.S. Journalists

(CBS/AP)  Two American journalists and their guide were detained by North Korean soldiers while on a reporting trip near the country's border with China, according to the State Department and their employer, Current TV.

U.S. State Department spokesman Fred Lash confirmed to CBS News Thursday that two Americans had been detained near the China-North Korea border two days earlier.

"On March 17 early-morning China time, two U.S. citizens were taken into custody by what appeared to be North Korean border guards where the Tumen River crosses from China into North Korea," said Lash.

Lash would not name the missing U.S. nationals, but told CBS News they were journalists and may have been filming along the border when they were detained.

"The U.S. is working with Chinese authorities and the Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang to secure their release and ensure their safety, and has expressed its concern to North Korea about the situation," said Lash.

A statement on Current TV's Web site confirmed that the Americans were Laura Ling, a reporter for the California-based online media outlet, and her photographer Euna Kim. The statement said both had been detained by North Korean soldiers.

Current TV was co-founded by former Vice President Al Gore in 2005.

Along with their Chinese guide, they were being held in North Korea after being arrested, the Rev. Chun Ki-won of the Seoul-based Doorihana Mission told The Associated Press by telephone from Washington.

(CBS)

Chun said he met with the two in Seoul recently to help them plan their trip to the border to report on North Korean refugees, and last spoke to them by telephone early Tuesday morning. The women told him they were near North Korea's far northeastern border, at the Tumen River, and were heading northwest toward the Yalu River near the Chinese border city of Dandong.

The Tumen and Yalu rivers are frequent crossing points for both trade and the growing number of North Koreans seeking to escape through the porous border. Chun's group helps North Korean defectors hiding in China and in Southeast Asian countries seek asylum in the U.S. and South Korea.

Earlier Thursday, South Korean media reported that North Korean soldiers took two U.S. journalists into custody after they ignored orders to stop filming.

In Seoul, U.S. Embassy spokesman Aaron Tarver said he had no information about the reported arrests and referred calls to the State Department. U.S. officials in Washington could not be reached for comment.

In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters at a regular press briefing: "China is investigating the issue involving relevant U.S. nationals on the border between China and the DPRK (North Korea)."

South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Moon Tae-young told reporters he had no comment.

[earth562]

KILL BOTH OF THEM THEY SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE..
Posted by robinhooded45 at 11:45 PM : Mar 19, 2009


Your right and we should put YOU into a chipper shreader and leave it on for 9 days...moron !

[pugster]

These women might as well put on 'arrest me' sign when they cross the China-North Korea border.

[problem09]

robinhooded45 are you serious? Granted they should've been more careful on where they were, does that mean they deserve to die because of that error? Maybe if they stopped filming hwen they were asked/told to we would not be have this discusion. Who knows. I just hope they get out safely and in one piece

[rrozsa]

KILL BOTH OF THEM THEY SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE..
Posted by robinhooded45 at 11:45 PM : Mar 19, 2009

===============

When will you be turning nine, little boy? And what were you doing up so late on a school night?

[rrozsa]

North Korea is so f-ed up. I saw a report where the food aid that is sent to them, not to support terror or create nukes, is given to the political elite, while the commoners starve. It has gotten so bad that the population is in decline, because with the malnutrition the women have actually stopped menstrating. If those aren't human right violations I don't know what would be. But, the new administration will probably keep sending aid and the cycle will continue.
Posted by 388jth at 6:11 AM : Mar 19, 2009

=================

That is the big problem with every communist nation that has ever existed. You have to trade having rich corporations in favor of rich government officials. Remember -- Castro took over Cuba because everyone got sick of seeing the rich mansions up on the hills while the working class lived in squallor (does that sound familiar?). So now it's the rich politicians (Castro and his officials) living in the fancy mansions and the working class still lives in squallor.

The big difference between communism and what we have here is that the non-political population has no say-so and no rights. And unlike the "rich corporations" who buy and sell goods and provide jobs to boost the economy, the communist government doesn't provide anything except for themselves.

[rrozsa]

hey, he's not the only one. i'm a lib and feel the same way. north korea is like a little whiny 5 year old stomping his feet around because he's not getting his way. that little 5 year old needs a little discipline(sp?)
Posted by holder133487 at 5:24 AM : Mar 19, 2009

===========

The problem is that this country has adopted an isolationistic view in the past generation -- no one wants to risk their [our] own young men to come to the defense of the weak or oppressed anymore.

Even if the UN gave N Korea deadline after deadline, and finally determined they needed to take action and declared war against N. Korea, Obama would suffer the same fate as Bush and be accused of being a war mongerer. Haven't y'all learned your lesson by now?

[boxcar70]

@ zgomer

In the words of the renown philosopher, John Cleese:

"Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!"

[boxcar70]

hollysbaby said

"But WAIT!
Didn?t Hillary warn N Korea to behave?
How?s that working?"

My point exactly. The US has enough weapons to destroy the world, and then we send a message to DPRK saying that they had better behave or else we will attack them. DPRK knows that we could destroy them at any second. What are their options? 1. Roll over and risk the loss of their country/culture/identity OR 2. Make themselves powerful enough (or at least seem powerful enough) to do serious damage in the event that the US or other outside forces decide to attack.

It seems that the only way out of this is for the West to give DPRK the message that we do not want to destroy them and want to allow them to live in peace. Then we have to follow up our words with actions, since 60+ years of mistrust (not to mention years of belligerence by China and Japan towards Korea before 1945) will take a long time to heal.

[dahizzle]

Bush never had the b*lls to confront N. Korea. He only invaded banana stands....safe money for his pet defense contractors.

[boxcar70]

@ geminispyder-2009

I don't think that we are saying things that are necessarily contrary. You are talking about popular opinion in DPRK, I am talking from a policy standpoint. I agree that 60 years of state sponsored propaganda will have a tremendous influence on the thinking of the common people. But a thoughtful person must admit that the political machinations of the US, Japan, Russia, and China have had a tremendous influence on the thinking of the military and political leaders of the DPRK. You said

"Kim Il-sung rallied the Korean people against the imperialist Japanese/Western nations and unify the peninsula"

Why did he feel that was necessary? Because all of the major powers around him were trying to colonize, subjugate, and destroy the identity of his homeland.

You also said that North Koreans have been taught to think "The Korean War was started by the Americans for the sake of imperialism and the domination of the Korean people."

Imagine yourself as a North Korean. This seems like a perfectly reasonable conclusion in the face of 40 years of Japanese Imperialism and 45 years of US-backed dictators in South Korea. Now take a look at the way the US media portrays the North Korean leaders as crazy, megalomaniacs, with a death wish who are intentionally pushing towards a war that will annihilate the peninsula. Even with our "free" ability to get information here in the West and think about alternative viewpoints, we routinely believe the party line that is being printed by our "free" press. If the North Koreans leaders are so crazy, why haven't they already started a war to destroy the world? If you were the North Korean leader, what would you do to preserve your country's autonomy? You would be frightened that the world's most powerful countries--US, Japan, South Korea, Russia, and even your one-time friend China--were out to get you, and you would do everything in your power to stop that--including get a nuke and some missiles.

Before any progress has been made on North Korea, the world has to acknowledge that fear and do what it can to alleviate it.