Little news has been made recently about two American journalist held prisoner in North Korea. Laura Ling and Euna Lee were filming a story about North Koreans fleeing over the Chinese border for Current TV when they were arrested by North Korean officials on March 17th. They have been tried, convicted, and sentenced to twelve years in a labor camp, in what can only be horrific conditions.
North Korea is already possibly the most isolated country in the world, and this situation is made all the more complex by numerous issues inside North Korea. First, the "Dear Leader" Kim-Jong Il is in failing health, and he has just named his son Kim-Jong Un. This has created a dynamic where the father does not want to make any concessions for fear of making his son look weak in what is often a perilous time for any totalitarian regime. One concession that the US wants is the halt of North Korea's nuclear weapons program. The North has already tested several missiles, and is capable of striking Japan and perhaps Alaska. Although US officials would like to pretend that these items are unrelated, North Korea could not disagree more. Both are seen inside the government as Western meddling.
Surely, there are back channel negotiations taking place over these two journalist. A key step in the process will come if and when the US decides to send a envoy or surrogate to deal with the North Koreans. Possible candidates include Bill Richardson and Al Gore, who is CEO of Current TV.
We at OTB would like to say that we were previously big fans of Laura Ling's reporting. Current TV relies on citizen journalism to fill most of their content, and is highly recommended for anyone who enjoys creative and innovative reporting from around the world. This crisis shows the danger that journalist (of any kind) place themselves in to report from the world's most troubled areas, and how grateful we all should be to the people that put their lives on the line to bring the world to our doorstep. Or nowadays, televisions, computer screens, blackberries...
North Korea is already possibly the most isolated country in the world, and this situation is made all the more complex by numerous issues inside North Korea. First, the "Dear Leader" Kim-Jong Il is in failing health, and he has just named his son Kim-Jong Un. This has created a dynamic where the father does not want to make any concessions for fear of making his son look weak in what is often a perilous time for any totalitarian regime. One concession that the US wants is the halt of North Korea's nuclear weapons program. The North has already tested several missiles, and is capable of striking Japan and perhaps Alaska. Although US officials would like to pretend that these items are unrelated, North Korea could not disagree more. Both are seen inside the government as Western meddling.
Surely, there are back channel negotiations taking place over these two journalist. A key step in the process will come if and when the US decides to send a envoy or surrogate to deal with the North Koreans. Possible candidates include Bill Richardson and Al Gore, who is CEO of Current TV.
We at OTB would like to say that we were previously big fans of Laura Ling's reporting. Current TV relies on citizen journalism to fill most of their content, and is highly recommended for anyone who enjoys creative and innovative reporting from around the world. This crisis shows the danger that journalist (of any kind) place themselves in to report from the world's most troubled areas, and how grateful we all should be to the people that put their lives on the line to bring the world to our doorstep. Or nowadays, televisions, computer screens, blackberries...
1 comment:
Good reporting! This is interesting stuff to know, delivered in a concise manner and important to our knowing how to deal with the rest of the world in an intelligent and compassionate manner. Please keep reporting on this stuff.
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