Euna Lee and Laura Ling were documenting human rights abuses of North Korean women along the China-North Korea border when they were arrested on March 17. The women were working for California-based media company Current TV when they were taken into custody by North Korean officials. They have been convicted of an unnamed “grave crime” in the Central Court in Pyongyang, according to Amnesty International.
“It is our hope that they would be released,” said Sharon Singh, Amnesty International Deputy Press Secretary. “Amnesty International thinks that any global leader that speaks out against this will hopefully bring pressure and these two women will be released.”
The White House released a statement on Monday about the verdict, saying that President Obama is “deeply concerned” about the sentence and the White House is working to help secure their release.
Press freedom organizations that have been advocating for Lee and Ling’s release since their arrest in March spent Monday scrambling to get word out about the situation. They were helped by heavy coverage of the verdict in the media, but specific information about the women’s whereabouts and condition remains sparse. As of Monday, the families of both women are not talking to the media or groups advocating for their release.
In the context of recent international tension involving North Korea, such as the nuclear missile test and the United States’s threat to re-list North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism, there is widespread speculation that the move by the communist state is a tactical maneuver.
“We are appalled that the government of North Korea is using the case of these two women and an issue that is a journalistic issue to elevate it as part of their international strategy and their chess game with other nations,” said Liza Gross, Executive Director of the International Women’s Media Foundation. “Press freedom should not be a hostage to the games that nations play between themselves.”
Ling and Lee were initially accused of “hostile activities” and illegally entering the country, according to another press freedom organization working for the women’s release, Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
The women were traveling with a guide while reporting on North Korean women being trafficked across the border, and might have accidentally crossed the border into North Korea. But RSF stressed that the secret trial and subsequent sentence don’t mean that the case is over.
“We’re trying to figure out how to obtain the release of these two women who are not criminals,” said Lucie Morillon, Washington, D.C. Director for RSF. “[They’re] just journalists doing their job.”
Morillon added that Lee and Ling are the first American journalists to be arrested at the China-North Korea border, and there is no reference point for how to deal with it.
The official response from the U.S. State Department urged North Korea to release the women.
“The whole judicial process has played out now,” said State Department Spokesman Ian Kelly during a Monday press briefing. “We think it’s time for them to be released just on pure humanitarian grounds.”
Conditions in North Korean forced labor camps are notorious for their harsh conditions. According to Amnesty International, work includes mountain logging and stone quarrying for up to 10 hours a day. Prisoners are beaten on suspicion of lying, working too slowly, or forgetting the lyrics to patriotic communist songs. Punishment includes forced exercise, sitting without moving for prolonged periods of time, and humiliating public criticism.
Current TV was founded by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore. Human rights organizations are speculating that Gore might form part of an envoy to travel to North Korea to get the two Americans released. However, as of Monday, Gore had neither made a statement about the case nor said he would help to get his employees released. Brent Marcus, director of public relations for Current TV said the media organization has “no comment” on Lee and Ling’s sentencing.
