Yikes! Euna Lee and Laura Ling could face 20 years in prison. Unnamed South Korean sources say that Korean-American Euna Lee and Chinese-American Laura Ling might be charged with espionage because they crossed the border at the Tumen River. Such an offense carries a minimum sentence of 20 years in prison.
Lee and Ling were collecting information on North Koreans fleeing their country and were visiting a spot on the border where many refugees flee to China.
Stalinist North Korea confirmed the journalists’ arrests Saturday and said they were accused of illegal border crossing, according to state-controlled media.
The United States has also been working for Lee and Ling’s release. However, the US and North Korea have no formal diplomatic ties but to communicate through the Swedish embassy in Pyongyang and the United Nations in New York. (dpa)
This is truly tragic. What publication/country were these journalists from? I cannot imagine being in a NK prison for a week…let alone 20 years. I hope the U.S. can broker a deal for them to be handed over safely soon.
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Frank B.
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