ID :
77972
Wed, 09/02/2009 - 13:47
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/77972
The shortlink copeid
(2nd LD) U.S. reporters released from N. Korea captivity recount how it all began
(ATTN: RECASTS lead, headline; ADDS reason for travel to China in para 9, details on
interviewees, guide, intention before crossing in paras 11-13, background on
previous detention in last para; TRIMS)
By Sam Kim
SEOUL, Sept. 2 (Yonhap) -- Two U.S. journalists released after months of
captivity in North Korea said Wednesday they were "firmly" out of the communist
country when they were dragged back into it across an icy river by
rifle-carrying soldiers.
"We didn't spend more than a minute on North Korean soil before turning back, but
it is a minute we deeply regret," Laura Ling and Euna Lee said in a statement on
the Web site of their San Francisco-based employer, Current TV.
"We were firmly back inside China when the soldiers apprehended us," they said in
the first account of the March 17 capture in their own words. "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," they said.
Ling and Lee said they were turning back on their way to a house that their guide
said was housing North Koreans preparing to be smuggled into China, when they
heard yelling from across the frozen river.
"We looked back and saw two North Korean soldiers with rifles running toward us.
Instinctively, we ran," they said. "Producer Mitch Koss and our guide were both
able to outrun the border guards. We were not."
The journalists, brought back home by former U.S. President Bill Clinton on Aug.
5, had been sentenced in June to 12 years in labor camp for "hostile acts"
against North Korea.
"What did we do that was hostile?" they said, arguing they were convicted "not
for trespassing but for our work as journalists."
"Totalitarian regimes the world over are terrified of exposure," they said,
adding that they traveled to the region to "document a grim story of human
trafficking."
They said they made contact with North Korean defectors, including women who
found work in on-line sex trade or were forced into arranged marriages.
Their guide, a Korean-Chinese man, brought them to the Tumen River that marks the
border between China and North Korea so they could "chronicle" smuggling
operations, they said.
"When our guide beckoned for us to follow him beyond the middle of the river, we
did, eventually arriving at the riverbank on the North Korean side,"
"To this day, we still don't know if we were lured into a trap. In retrospect,
the guide behaved oddly," they said. "But it was ultimately our decision to
follow him, and we continue to pay for that decision today."
Ling and Lee defended themselves against claims they might have endangered those
working to help North Koreans flee the country's repressive regime, saying they
destroyed their materials.
"We furtively destroyed evidence in our possession by swallowing notes and
damaging videotapes" during the early part of their detention, Ling, an ethnic
Chinese, and Lee, an ethnic Korean, said.
"People had put their lives at risk by sharing their stories, and we were
determined to do everything in our power to safeguard them," they said. "We took
extreme caution to ensure that the people we interviewed and their locations were
not identifiable.
"After arriving home, we were disoriented, overwhelmed and not ready to talk
about the experience," they said. "We can't adequately express the emotions
surrounding our release. One moment, we were preparing to be sent to a labor
camp, fearing that we would disappear and never be heard from again."
Ling and Lee were not the first Americans to be detained in North Korea. A U.S.
pilot was detained in 1994 when his military chopper was shot down after straying
across the border. Another American, Evan Hunziker, was apprehended after he swam
across the Yalu River to North Korea from the Chinese side in 1996. Both were
eventually set free, but neither faced a trial.
samkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
interviewees, guide, intention before crossing in paras 11-13, background on
previous detention in last para; TRIMS)
By Sam Kim
SEOUL, Sept. 2 (Yonhap) -- Two U.S. journalists released after months of
captivity in North Korea said Wednesday they were "firmly" out of the communist
country when they were dragged back into it across an icy river by
rifle-carrying soldiers.
"We didn't spend more than a minute on North Korean soil before turning back, but
it is a minute we deeply regret," Laura Ling and Euna Lee said in a statement on
the Web site of their San Francisco-based employer, Current TV.
"We were firmly back inside China when the soldiers apprehended us," they said in
the first account of the March 17 capture in their own words. "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," they said.
Ling and Lee said they were turning back on their way to a house that their guide
said was housing North Koreans preparing to be smuggled into China, when they
heard yelling from across the frozen river.
"We looked back and saw two North Korean soldiers with rifles running toward us.
Instinctively, we ran," they said. "Producer Mitch Koss and our guide were both
able to outrun the border guards. We were not."
The journalists, brought back home by former U.S. President Bill Clinton on Aug.
5, had been sentenced in June to 12 years in labor camp for "hostile acts"
against North Korea.
"What did we do that was hostile?" they said, arguing they were convicted "not
for trespassing but for our work as journalists."
"Totalitarian regimes the world over are terrified of exposure," they said,
adding that they traveled to the region to "document a grim story of human
trafficking."
They said they made contact with North Korean defectors, including women who
found work in on-line sex trade or were forced into arranged marriages.
Their guide, a Korean-Chinese man, brought them to the Tumen River that marks the
border between China and North Korea so they could "chronicle" smuggling
operations, they said.
"When our guide beckoned for us to follow him beyond the middle of the river, we
did, eventually arriving at the riverbank on the North Korean side,"
"To this day, we still don't know if we were lured into a trap. In retrospect,
the guide behaved oddly," they said. "But it was ultimately our decision to
follow him, and we continue to pay for that decision today."
Ling and Lee defended themselves against claims they might have endangered those
working to help North Koreans flee the country's repressive regime, saying they
destroyed their materials.
"We furtively destroyed evidence in our possession by swallowing notes and
damaging videotapes" during the early part of their detention, Ling, an ethnic
Chinese, and Lee, an ethnic Korean, said.
"People had put their lives at risk by sharing their stories, and we were
determined to do everything in our power to safeguard them," they said. "We took
extreme caution to ensure that the people we interviewed and their locations were
not identifiable.
"After arriving home, we were disoriented, overwhelmed and not ready to talk
about the experience," they said. "We can't adequately express the emotions
surrounding our release. One moment, we were preparing to be sent to a labor
camp, fearing that we would disappear and never be heard from again."
Ling and Lee were not the first Americans to be detained in North Korea. A U.S.
pilot was detained in 1994 when his military chopper was shot down after straying
across the border. Another American, Evan Hunziker, was apprehended after he swam
across the Yalu River to North Korea from the Chinese side in 1996. Both were
eventually set free, but neither faced a trial.
samkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
