U.S. Journalists & Their "Unjust" Guest House "Imprisonment"?

Now I might get in trouble with this one, but I am a little confused about the U.S. journalists that were freed after a visit by former President Bill Clinton to North Korea. 

I cannot even imagine coping with the fact that you are expecting to go to jail, or in these two ladies’ cases, serve in a hard labor camp.  Even worse, when you have family that depends on you, and loved ones that you have only had sparing contact with – I imagine it is overwhelming.  

But as much as the U.S and other countries vilify North Korea, and as much as North Korea isolates themselves as a government with some of their actions – walking away from nuclear non-proliferation talks, testing missiles – is it fair to assume this is another case of isolating North Korean tactics and outlandish decision-making from a misguided Communist leader?

I must say that for myself, I wasn’t necessarily throwing confetti when I heard Bill Clinton was going over to North Korea by request of the North Koreans.  I was happy and touched when these two journalists touched down this morning and reunited with their family on national TV, but I wasn’t waving my “Free Laura & Euna Lee” t-shirt.

Did they deserve a “special pardon”?  I mean Laura Ling admitted to breaking North Korean law.  When I tried to search and see exactly what the infraction was, I thought it would have been something that could be arguably over the top and unfair – but what I found was that they entered the country illegally – something that I am sure if the tables were turned, the U.S. may be quick to capture and imprison these individuals as well, assuming foul play.  Maybe the U.S. would not have threatened the punishment of a labor camp, but I do not think visa-less journalists from North Korea whom the U.S. knew nothing about would get a free deportation pass on their merry way without being double checked and detained.

Even more, North Korea as an imprisoner did not throw these journalists in a dungeon with no food.  They were not sent automatically to the labor camp -they were at the guest house.  A guest house anywhere can’t be great when you know it is just the purgatory before your hell, but it wasn’t labor camp either.  I think given the circumstances, with North Korea and the U.S. having no diplomatic relations, the North Koreans could have been much nastier.

So were they wrongfully imprisoned and/or mistreated and denied basic human rights?  Were they political prisoners?  Were they denied a trial?  Was the North Korean law unjust?  Did they deserve a pardon?

All of these are debatable questions when North Korea is in the mix, because of the lack of diplomatic ties between the U.S. and North Korea. Laura Ling also mentioned they did not intend to cross over in North Korea, so I doubt the action was deliberate.

Some would argue that the field of journalism requires individuals to take bold risks and be active in pursuit of the truth in the face of adversity – these two journalists took that risk, it seems, and because of that alone, they should be pardoned of the high consequences of being in that region, because they were being true to the essence of journalism.

To be honest, I feel it is more a case of who they worked for and who they knew.  They worked as journalists for a network half-owned by Al Gore, who in turn was connected to Bill.  Lisa Ling, sister of Laura Ling, is a pretty well known journalist and was a co-host on The View.  In my opinion, this shaped the entire event starting at the point the two journalists were sent to the guest house to await their fate.  And whether they meant to cross into the border or not, I think that this would have played out differently if it were different, less connected journalists involved.  Leading me to question whether this truly was a “humanitarian effort” or if it was a private effort to secure a favor for exonerating what was a fair claim that they broke North Korean law?

I am happy they received their pardon, I just wonder if it is a fair representation to call this a “humanitarian” effort and paint this as though North Korea was wholly unprovoked and unjustified. 

This is why I watched this mornings homecoming with forced enthusiasm – it is always uplifting to hear the end of a trying ordeal for anyone, but I just wonder if the motivation of the State Department and Gore was because they thought the jailing was inherently wrong? Or was it because they owed the journalists as much because they were American and were sent there to do a job? 

But for once, I have few questions about the actions of North Korea…it seems like they enforced a law they have in place and were more cooperative about it than they had to be.

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