Journalist Laura Ling spoke at LMU last Thursday night about her experience

Journalist Laura Ling spoke at LMU last Thursday night about her experience as a captive in North Korea back in 2009. She and fellow journalist Euna Lee had gone to China on an assignment and found themselves taken captive by North Korean forces after they followed their category_ide across the border by mistake. “I had gone over there to report on a story and then I became the story,” she told the Loyolan.

Senior Editor Laura Riparbelli sat down with Ling, who opened up about her 140 days in captivity and rescue by President Bill Clinton. Click on the info-graphic below for audio clips from the interview.

Q&A breakdown as it appeared in print edition:

1. You’ve covered all sorts of harrowing topics – from the drug cartels in Mexico to going undercover in Myanmar – and have seen a lot of inhumanity. Do you think you’ve become desensitized?

This is a really good question, because a lot of times people see that Mexico footage and they ask, ‘How are you so able to like keep your composure?’ And so maybe it’s sort of unconscious, maybe there is a little bit. But having said that, every time I watch that stuff, I still get chills. I still think about the two lives that were lost in that car, the mother and the girlfriend who are screaming, and it affects me every time. I don’t know if I’ve become desensitized because I still feel for those people every time I watch that or every time I think about some of the people that I’ve met.

2. What was the most difficult part about being in captivity for nearly five months?

It was being away from my family. It was thinking about the stress that my situation was having on them.

3. Were you and Euna Lee housed in the same facility? Did you know each other’s fate?

Euna and I were separated. It turns out that we were held in the same facility but they never told us that. It was almost like one of their tactics was to keep us wondering about each other’s fate. So it was a very stressful and nerve-wracking … I think we each had an idea that we were being held somewhere close, or even in the same facility, but we never knew for sure, so it was a big source of worry.

4. You were sentenced by the North Korean government to 12 years of hard labor. Did you ever think you would actually be sent to a labor camp?

I obviously always held out hope that we would never get sent to a camp. But they definitely tried to manipulate us mentally to sort of let us know that that reality was coming upon us, so I was very fearful that I would get sent to one of those camps.

5. You’ve mentioned before that you eventually bonded with your capturers on a human level. Can you expand on that?

At the end of the day, I think that we, no matter where we’re from, are all human and we all want the same things. And they want decent lives for their families and they want to be able to put food on the table and all that sort of stuff. And so it was, I think, that we each had put up these barriers when we first came in contact with each other and then those barriers started to crumble and we were each able to see each other for the human beings that we are.

6. North Korea was using you as a bargaining chip in order to gain recognition politically. If this had happened today, in 2012, do you think your situation would be the same?

Who knows? But I do think that, during the time period that we were held, it was one of the most – I think – tense times between the US and North Korea. North Korea had conducted a satellite launch and nuclear test; it was only the second nuclear test that they had conducted in their history. … And so it was an incredibly intense time. Having said that, I think that it was probably better that I was held during that time than under the current leadership because so little is known about their new leader, and I think that there would be a question of him wanting to prove himself and how he might try to prove himself.

7. When President Clinton arrived in Pyongyang to rescue you and Euna, were you shocked?

I had some idea that President Clinton was coming in an envoy because I had requested for him to come based on conversations that I’d been having with my captors. And so, like I said in this talk, it was like trying to figure out a puzzle. What do they want? Who do they want? … I had a very strong feeling that it had to be President Clinton at the end of the day. I didn’t know if he would actually make that trip. When I learned that somebody was landing in Pyongyang, I didn’t know if at the last minute they had accepted somebody else because I didn’t think that somebody of President Clinton’s stature would go, also considering that his wife was the current Secretary of State. It was just so complicated politically. So, I had some idea. But when I saw, when we were taken into a room and we saw the president standing there before us, it was almost indescribable, the feeling that sort of came over me, it was like I was being given my life back.

8. How would you describe that plane ride back to Los Angeles?

It was incredible, exhausting, so many different feelings all at once. I’m sitting, I’m in a plane with the 42nd president of the United States who just rescued us. It was sort of out of a movie.

9. This story was huge. Did you have any idea what a media storm this had become?

No I didn’t. I had no idea that our story had gotten as much attention as it did. I was locked in a room on the other side of the world and I had no idea. It was actually pretty difficult when I did get home, because I got off that plane and there was all this media attention. I wasn’t prepared for that. I had gone over there to report on a story and then I became the story and that was actually pretty hard to deal with.

10. Immediately after the plane landed, you gave a press conference. Was that surreal?

It was nerve-wracking, it was surreal. But it was also nice to be able to express my gratitude to so many people, complete strangers, who had sent their thoughts and prayers to us. So, for that, it was actually really wonderful to be able to do that.

Continue reading:
http://www.laloyolan.com/news/burning-questions-with-a-former-north-korean-prisoner/article_353b70b0-8f60-11e1-86a4-001a4bcf6878.html