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New York, 9:20 AM
Sun Nov 29
12 posts in the last 24 hours
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08/12/09
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08/12/09
I think what offends a lot of people about this is the suspicion that Laura Ling and the other journalist intentionally sneaked into North Korea so they could "report undercover" and then caused the U.S. a huge expense and, more importantly, legitimized North Korea by forcing Clinton to go in and save the day, and after causing all that trouble Ling is now profiting from her mistake at our expense.
08/12/09
08/12/09
1) It can be argued the whole affair probably didn't cost much of any US money. The plane trip and the like was paid by Bing as well as the theatre by which the coming home celebration occurred and the people who physically went over there for "negotiations" were volunteers, including Bill.
2) One could also argue that this episode opened the door in regards to US/N. Korean relations in which it afforded an opportunity for Kim Jung's regime "get to know" the new administration and their response to such batshittery by them. I'm thinking that under Bush we would have either bombed them or in recogition of their threat, tried to bribe them with something while calling them names in public.
08/12/09
08/12/09
The Mail on Sunday (dailymail.co.uk) has quoted Ling's husband as saying, "I’m afraid I can’t say anything. No one is allowed to talk. We are in the process of doing deals and I don’t want to mess anything up. Everything is being handled by our media adviser."
The newspaper goes on to say that "according to Professor Han Park, an American academic who was visiting North Korea at the time, they were housed in a guest villa designed for foreign visitors outside the capital of Pyongyang. Professor Park said that Korean officials laughed at any suggestion that the women were receiving harsh treatment. ‘We are not Guantanamo,’ he was told. [Commenter's note: Touche.] The women were allowed to receive daily letters from their husbands and parcels from home."
Now, I have been taken to task previously for quoting the Daily Mail, but what if their reporting actually has a few facts sprinkled in it? Would that be snarky?
And I will continue to bang the drum for the (gasp) National Geographic's February 2009 article, "Escape from North Korea." Their writer and photographer were clearly in the thick of it all, did not get captured, and produced the gut-wrenching story that Ling and Lee were sent to get, namely, the death-defying escapes of people who have sometimes had only grass to eat.
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07/11/09
that said, they did cross a closed border. ur not supposed to do that
also, it makes my head hurt to hear the closed the us border types going on about how they are political prisoners
freedom of travel is a basic human right, and closing borders is wrong, but crossing closed borders is a crime in closed countries: does anyone remember east germany? the spy who came in from the cold? the whole cold war?
so i think a non apology apology -- we're sorry we broke your rule -- please send them home is exactly right
07/11/09
In any case, I do agree that their current approach is the right one. The only one, it seems. That, and the US needs to come up with the right carrot for Kim Jong Il.
07/11/09
You make a good point. The Nazis dressed as Polish soldiers to stage an attack on German troops to justify the German invasion. N. Korea has about the same credibility with me when they claim that someone crossed their border.
07/11/09
It's also safe to say that these two journalists didn't receive a fair trial. The right to a fair trial is guaranteed by the North Korean constitution. That they were not granted one is illegal under North Korean law; thus the decision to imprison them for twelve years was not arrived at lawfully and is invalid.
07/11/09
07/11/09
If journos don't want to be swallowed whole by the information monster that is the internet, they need to rethink the "manufacturing" of the news that has been happening for far too long now.
The North Koreans are paranoid to a fault. Not knowing incarceration was a possibility if they broke the rules is just ludicrous.
07/11/09
@if_i_only_had_a_heart:
I agree with both of you. I'm sure most people hope they're released unharmed, but they were foolishly flouting the law of a sovereign nation that has closed its borders.
It was good to hear Clinton refer to them as "young women" and not girls. They're NOT girls, they're adults and professionals who appear to have exercised poor judgment in this case. The little cutie-pie photos that accompany these stories only undermine any respect to which their entitled. It also underscores the idea that if you're in trouble it sure helps be a young, nice-looking woman.
Again, thank goodness for this commenting system that creates disincentives to responding to trolls like Drunken Economist.
07/11/09
"to which they're entitled"
[The system froze and I was timed-out before I could correct this.]
07/11/09
... that bizarre tactic of parking a news crew outside a place they KNEW they were not going to have access to and then getting into pointless arguments with security...
Taken out of context, that sounds like a celebrity stakeout by the paparazzi.
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07/10/09
Let's hope she stays on her meds tho'. Blonde & shrill usually doesn't cut it when dealing with mad azn dictators.
07/10/09