Youth Radio - Topic: North Korea

North Koreans Shouldn't Have To Suffer

rgee — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 13:32:24 -0600

This story was originally published on L.A. Youth.

By Ha Young Kwen

Earlier this year, I saw a documentary about North Korea at my church. One scene showed North Korean boys scrounging for food in the mud with no shoes on. The movie explained that there’s a famine in North Korea. But what makes it worse is that the country’s leader, Kim Jong-il, gives his supporters and soldiers food while leaving millions hungry.

I was born in South Korea, which borders North Korea. North Koreans have the same hopes, dreams and fears as we do, but don’t have the same opportunities. I think of them as my brothers and sisters. It hurts to think that my people are dying because they don’t have enough food to eat.

I learned that North Korea is a dictatorship and the government holds absolute control over people’s lives. North Koreans don’t have freedom of speech, press or religion. People are sent to prison camps for the smallest reasons, like listening to a foreign radio station. No one can leave or enter the country.

However, those who are desperate for food and freedom risk their lives to leave. To escape North Korea, the only option is to swim across one of its rivers into China. North Korean soldiers patrol the rivers and if the soldiers see anyone trying to escape, they shoot them. In one scene from the documentary, a riverbank was lined with dead bodies, which reminded me of pictures I’ve seen in books about the Holocaust. Once in China, North Korean refugees have to hide from Chinese officials. If they’re caught, China sends them back to North Korea, where they could be tortured, sent to a prison camp or executed.

The film was about refugees hiding in China. They were trying to find safety, but most of them got sent back.

I understood their fear

I felt a bond with the refugees. There was a scene that showed refugees hiding in a safehouse in China. This reminded me of when I went to a secret shelter with my mom and brother to get away from my abusive dad eight years ago. I know what it feels like to live in fear and uncertainty. Whenever I went to school, I worried my dad would find me to get to my mom. I didn’t know where we would live after the shelter and how we could afford to rent an apartment if my mom couldn’t get a job. About a month after being in the shelter, my mom got a job and we moved into a small apartment. I cried watching the refugees go through a more difficult situation. I knew I had to help in some way.

After the film, a speaker from LiNK (Liberty in North Korea), an organization that raises awareness about the North Korean crisis, asked us to support their cause by buying a DVD of Seoul Train (Seoul is the capital of South Korea), the movie we had just watched. I bought the DVD to show my friends so they could share my passion to end this crisis. At school, I let my friend borrow the DVD, but he left it in his locker for a few weeks and never watched it. I felt discouraged.

But a few weeks later, I was given an opportunity to show Seoul Train. I had a substitute teacher for Spanish class. At the end of each week, the substitute allowed students to bring in movies to learn about other cultures. I asked the teacher if I could share Seoul Train with the class. The teacher was reluctant at first because she worried that a documentary would bore the students but she later agreed.

Would my classmates care?

I was anxious about how my classmates would react to the documentary. Would they find it boring or would they be shocked just as I was?

In one scene, a family of North Korean refugees in China attempted to get into the Japanese consulate (an office of the Japanese government) with hopes of receiving help. The refugees needed to run past the gate without being captured by Chinese policemen who guarded the entrance. The husband and uncle were supposed to stall the police so the wife, little girl and grandmother could get in first. But the men ran in first—maybe because they were nervous—and the women and child were caught by the police.

My classmates watched silently as the women screamed hysterically. I could feel the tension and shock in the room. A friend of mine had her eyes open wide in disbelief and covered her mouth with both hands. Afterward, a friend came up to me and asked, “Is this happening right now?” I told her yes.

If kids in my Spanish class didn’t know about this crisis, there are others who don’t know about it either. We never see media coverage of humanitarian problems in North Korea. On the news, reporters talk about North Korea testing nuclear missiles. Because of that, many people assume all North Koreans are trying to nuke the United States. It is the government that makes those threats, not the millions who suffer under its control.

I want to tell others about this crisis. I started a LiNK club at school to raise money and awareness for the North Korean refugees who have gone unnoticed for too long.

Ling & Lee: Hostages in the Hermit Kingdom

noah — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 12:22:10 -0500

When journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee were captured by North Korean forces on the border with China in March we had questions. What were they doing there? Why were they taken? Why was their employer, the viewer participation cable news pioneer Current TV, staying silent about the case? Even to the point of censoring viewer created content on the subject?

Last night Ling and Lee issued a written statement about their imprisonment and the events leading up to it, with a focus on the story they were there to pursue: the plight of North Korean defectors in China.

In their statement published on Current, the pair paint a dramatic picture of their capture:

Feeling nervous about where we were, we quickly turned back toward China. Midway across the ice, we heard yelling. We looked back and saw two North Korean soldiers with rifles running toward us. Instinctively, we ran.

We were firmly back inside China when the soldiers apprehended us. Producer Mitch Koss and our guide were both able to outrun the border guards. We were not. We tried with all our might to cling to bushes, ground, anything that would keep us on Chinese soil, but we were no match for the determined soldiers. They violently dragged us back across the ice to North Korea and marched us to a nearby army base, where we were detained. Over the next 140 days, we were moved to Pyongyang, isolated from one another, repeatedly interrogated and eventually put on trial and sentenced to 12 years of hard labor.

The answer to the most baffling of the questions raised at the time-- why was Current remaining silent-- comes in at an unexpected angle, and sheds light on the character of Ling and Lee:

AFTER WE WERE detained, the two of us made every effort to limit the repercussions of our arrest. In the early days of our confinement, before we were taken to Pyongyang, we were left for a very brief time with our belongings. With guards right outside the room, we furtively destroyed evidence in our possession by swallowing notes and damaging videotapes. During rigorous, daily interrogation sessions, we took care to protect our sources and interview subjects. We were also extremely careful not to reveal the names of our Chinese and Korean contacts, including Pastor Chun. People had put their lives at risk by sharing their stories, and we were determined to do everything in our power to safeguard them.

Our families and colleagues back home maintained total silence about our work for two full months, both to minimize the potential impact on sensitive underground work in China and to protect us. We were surprised to learn that Chun spoke with reporters publicly in the immediate aftermath of our arrest. Among other things, Chun claimed that he had warned us not to go to the river. In fact, he was well aware of our plans because he had been communicating with us throughout our time in China, and he never suggested we shouldn't go. Chun's public statements prompted members of our families to speak directly with him in Korean, pleading with him to refrain from any further comment that might jeopardize our situation and those of relief organizations working along the border.

In a media landscape where the news personality is considered more important than the news it's heartening to see two reporters who became the story seek to put the spotlight back on the work.

Previously:

Journalists Freed from North Korea

nross — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 20:30:49 -0500

According to time .com on March 29, 2009 two journalists Laura ling and Euna lee were doing a report when they were arrested and convicted of illegally entering North Korea. The two journalists wore sentenced to 12 years in prison after being charged with illegally entering a Korean military base. After 140 days in prison ex-president Clinton went to North Korea on Tuesday unannounced and CNS News reports that North Korea’s government specially requested that bill Clinton come and have a meeting with North Korean leader Kim jog. Bill Clinton told jog the journalists didn’t know they were crossing the border and it was an accident. Wednesday Clinton brought the two journalists safely home to Los Angeles.
North Korea should have handled this in a different manner because Laura and Euna didn’t know that they wore crossing the border. North Korea should have asked them what are they doing and why are they were the border.

Lee and Ling Return (UPDATED WITH VIDEO)

noah — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 15:05:07 -0500

UPDATE II (Original Post Follows Updates)

Journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling returned to American soil today, touching down in Los Angeles where they were reunited with their families. In a press conference held at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank an emotional Ling read from a statement thanking former President Clinton and a host of others for securing her and Lee's release.

See Ling read her statement to the press.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

UPDATED (Original Post Follows Update):

Current Media have issued the following statement on the release of Laura Ling and Euna Lee:

LAURA LING AND EUNA LEE ARE COMING HOME

Current Media journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who have been detained in North Korea since March 17th, will be coming home on Wednesday morning with former President Bill Clinton, who is at this moment returning from North Korea having obtained their release.

We want to thank the Obama Administration for its continuous and determined efforts to achieve this outcome, and President Clinton for his willingness to undertake this mission.

All of us at Current are overjoyed at Laura and Euna’s safe return. Our hearts go out to them – and to their families – for persevering through this horrible experience.

We will have more to say in the days and weeks ahead. But for now, all our thoughts are with Laura and Euna and their families, who have shown remarkable courage and initiative for the 140 days of this ordeal.

Al Gore and Joel Hyatt

Co-Founders

Current Media

Current TV reporters Euna Lee and Laura Ling have been pardoned and ordered released by North Korean President Kim Jong Il after a surprise visit by former President Bill Clinton. Lee and Ling were taken captive by North Korean forces on March 17th and sentenced to 12 years of hard labor in June after crossing the North Korean border with China.

Details are just beginning to emerge in this dramatic conclusion to the months long diplomatic crisis.

The development comes on the heels of another journalist being held in Iran for crossing the unmarked border with Iraq during a hiking expedition.

All Our Laura Ling/Euna Lee Stories:

After North Korea: Why Reporters Take Risks (Video Interview with Josh Wolf)
North Korea: Current Stays Quiet On Reporters
Free Current's's Euna Lee and Laura Ling via Facebook

Vigil Planned for Jailed Journalists at SF City Hall

noah — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 19:03:56 -0500

Supporters of jailed journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee will gather tonight on the steps of San Francisco's City Hall at 6:30PM for a vigil and group photo.

The event's organizers report that mail has been getting through to the pair, whom North Korea recently sentenced to 12 years of hard labor. Those in attendance will be asked to write personal messages that will be sent to the two women along with the photo.

The planned vigil comes on the heels of Ling's sister, television personality Lisa Ling, reporting that her sister telephoned her on Tuesday.

Previously:

After North Korea: Why Reporters Take Risks

noah — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 13:06:17 -0500

This week we've been following the sentencing of Current TV reporters Euna Lee and Laura Ling by North Korea to 12 years of hard labor with intense interest.

As journalists, this story strikes close to home. On top of that, there's the curious silence of Current TV- whose only official reaction, so far, to both the capture and sentencing of their reporters has been "No Comment". On Tuesday we spoke with journalist Josh Wolf- who holds the record, at 226 days, for the longest prison stay by a reporter in the United States for protecting source materials- about his own investigation into why Current has been staying mum.

Josh's willingness to serve time, and Lee and Ling's very presence on North Korea's border to tell the story of human trafficking, speaks to the nature of reporters. Call it daring or just plain crazy: putting yourself at risk to tell a story isn't exactly "normal". So we went to visit Josh in San Francisco to talk to him about why reporters put themselves in dangerous situations.

If reporting and citizen journalism is your thing, you'll want to check out this interview with Karina Vargas: the citizen journalist whose footage of the Oscar Grant shooting played a key role in the development of that story.

Free Current's Euna Lee and Laura Ling via Facebook

denise — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:11:24 -0500

Current TV journalists, Euna Lee and Laura Ling were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor after being charged with crossing North Korea’s border illegally. The question people are wondering is what Current TV is doing to help free their reporters?

Finding an answer is not easy. Current TV is not willing to talk about this case. In a recent phone convesation with Current TV's press contact, I was quickly (and repeatedly) informed,“No comment on anything related to North Korea.”

Even though Current TV is not talking, people are making their voices heard on Twitter and Facebook. People have created a group on Facebook called “North Korea: Free Euna Lee and Laura Ling!” with links to a petition and blog site titled “Liberate Laura & Euna Now”. Interested citizens can also follow @liberatelaura on Twitter.

“Amber Jackson
Unbelievable, I have already contacted my congressman and Senator!! I hope that others will follow suit!! This is an outrage!!! My thoughts and prayers go out to them and their families! “

“John Yoon
Pissed off? Do something...
Contact your congress man/woman....
Contact your senator.... "

“Greogory R. Schiller
Its part of the political game"

“@bizweek:
By holding Ling-Lee, NK might believe it can force U.S. to think twice before putting them back on terrorism sponsors list.”

Social media site followers are not the only ones who are speaking out. Star Jones, attorney and former host of The View, wrote a letter to President Obama asking him to consider diplomatic “back-channels” as a way to free them.

“I believe that now is the time for diplomacy to step in. Because of the oppressive regime, I know that the United States has no formal diplomatic relationship with North Korea...so the utilization of diplomatic "back channels" may be the only way to make headway in bringing these journalists home to their families.”

Even though the details about their crossing are unclear, their sentence is still unfair. Not even illegal immigrants who cross the border to the United States are punished that harshly. They would just be sent back to their country. How do you feel about North Korea's actions?