–bumped & updated with Clinton video–
North Korea has now made Iran look reasonable. With the release of Roxana Saberi, we had a good ending, but with a sentence on Laura Ling and Euna Lee harsher than expected, according to most reports, the only thing that will change the current dynamic is more direct negotiations. Between Al Gore and Bill Richardson, obviously I’d prefer Al Gore, however, just send someone. This is not politics, it’s a humanitarian issue.
A North Korean court sentenced two U.S. journalists to 12 years in a labor camp Monday, as the government of Kim Jong Il continued to ratchet up tension with the United States and its neighbors.
… “The trial confirmed the grave crime they committed against the Korean nation and their illegal border crossing,” the official Korean Central News Agency said. It said the court sentenced “each of them to 12 years of reform through labor.”
The “grave crime,” however, was not explained. The reporters had earlier been accused of unspecified “hostile acts.” Legal analysts in South Korea said the North Korean court may have sentenced the women to the maximum of 10 years of hard labor for hostile acts and added on two years for illegal entry. …
Richardson commented today that it’s “good news” that there was no espionage charge against Ling and Lee.
Between Saberi and now this latest threat to foreign journalists, maybe everyone can understand how dangerous it is to bring the news from these isolated countries.
Send Al Gore.
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