Reporters in North Korea

I am sure most of you have seen the news about the two reporters, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who have been found guilty by N. Korea of illegally crossing the border into N. Korea, and who were subsequently sentenced to 12 years in labor prisons. Regardless of your opinion about what the US government should, or should not, do to help free them, I just wanted to make the point that these women are not going to a prison that we are accustomed to in the west, they are going to prisons that more closely resemble those that were used in Germany during the holocaust. You can read the 2008 Human Rights Report produced by the State Department to get a better idea of what the conditions are in North Korea. The women are bargaining chips right now, and N. Korea has made a statement. The US is in a tough position, and I hope that something can be done to allow these women to return to their families.


Living in South Korea, I know little more than anyone else what is really going on across the border, but the proximity has given me a reason to learn more than many people. With the little I have learned, I have come to despise the things that are known to happen in N. Korea, and it is a constant reminder how fortunate I am, and have been, in my life. What these 2 women may be going through has been suffered by thousands upon thousands of men, women, and children in N. Korea. I can't understand why it is allowed to continue. I don't want a war, but N. Korea needs to be stopped. We express outrage about the Holocaust in retrospect, yet we stand by as it happens today in places around the world. People read about and express anger or regret. I write a blog. Some people ignore it entirely. But who is really helping those people that were unlucky enough in their lives to be born in the wrong place at the wrong time? Or, as in the case of Laura Ling and Euna Lee, were in the wrong place at the wrong time trying to shed light on some of these monstrous things going on in the world. It is sad. It shouldn't matter what a person's political views are, wether they like President Obama or Sarah Palin or Ross Perot...everyone should feel sad and frightened for these women and their families right now. My heart goes out to everyone involved.