It's very smart to give an enemy the chance to look good.

I bet those two did a lousy job at their work camp; failing to plant enough rice and not gathering enough twigs and branches for the chilly months ahead.

Jon Stewart Rocks

Ms. Ling, 32, is the younger sister of Lisa Ling, a television journalist who reported undercover in North Korea for National Geographic in 2006. In the piece, “Inside North Korea,” Lisa Ling posed as part of a medical team that used a hidden camera; her report exposed some of the hardships of living in North Korea and criticized the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/25/world/asia/25korea.htm

NK should have added more charges for visa fraud.

Uh, what? Did you bother to read the paragraph you quoted? Lisa Ling did the hidden camera investigation. Why should NK charge Laura Ling with visa fraud?

Just wondering what sort of story they were hoping to do sneaking into NK. That it's an absolute shithole? No kidding, real big scoop.

This is another interesting read: NY Times columnist Nicholas Kristof wrote about their imprisonment last night month:

"Another possibility, which I incline to [believe], is that Ling and Lee may have been sold to North Korea by a local guide. If the guide said that it was safe to cross, or that they were still on Chinese territory, they would have believed him. Moreover, by some accounts they were working on a story about human trafficking — there’s a good deal of trafficking of North Korean women and girls into China, into prostitution and to be wives of peasants — and the traffickers could well have tricked them in exchange for a reward from North Korea. A couple of years ago, I set up an interview with a trafficker in that border area, but then backed out when he demanded money; the traffickers may realize that the people to demand money from aren’t the journalists but the North Korean officials."

Of course, here in the USA there is no trafficking and forced prostitution of Asian (or Slavic or Hispanic) women. No!

All those ads in the Voice and Craigslist are just come-ons. Those massage parlors in Flushing really just give massages. Those services that provide Russian brides are only joking.

These two reporters had to travel 10,000 and create an international incident, when the same problem exists here throughout American, and no one gives a damn?

It's easy to pick on a nutty dictatorship. Why weren't they interviewing enslaved women in Chinatown brothels in NYC or San Francisco? Might that prove too embarassing for Al Gore?

These reporters need to set their prio

Same, old "thefacts." Point out that he's lacking facts (Mexican illegals get repatriated, not jailed as he claims) and he just ignores it and continues on his tirades.

Epic. 2 women reporting on human trafficking sold into human trafficking. Must have been a miscommunication.

Figures that you and "thefacts" just automatically buy the NK line that the women actually violated the border. Oh, but then there are the confessions that you gladly believe, even if they were probably coerced with threats that the women would never see their families again if they didn't confess.

And just a little lesson for the omniscient "thefacts": when Mexicans illegally enter the US, they don't get 12 years hard labor. They get deported to Mexico.

Thanks for putting words in my mouth, or keyboard rather. I never said or assumed any of those things. You really are deranged.

Putting words in your mouth? Really? Then what exactly did you mean by "Just wondering what sort of story they were hoping to do sneaking into NK." If they didn't cross the border, how did they sneak into NK? I wouldn't want to go anywhere near that filthy thing you call a mouth. The only thing filthier is your mind.

They were doing a report on human trafficking. From Change.org:

"The cross-border trafficking between China and North Korean primarily affects women and girls. They are sold as brides and forced into serviles marriages. Some North Korean women are promised greater job opportunities and education in China, along with freedoms not granted in North Korea. Too often, those jobs are forced prostitution or domestic servitude. Women in this region of the world are incredibly vulnerable to trafficking, due to the dire economic situations many of them face and the heavy corruption and criminal activity in the region."

I've read about NK's crimes in this area, it's not a secret. Not sure what more these women might have found out other than to wind up in the same situation. Another news story on the topic won't change a thing. A regime change might.

Thanks.

Pays to work for a boss that has high end connections. Even better if your sister is a TV personality. Private Jets and former Presidents negotiating on your behalf are not there for everybody. However, if you are regular Joe, might as well get used to some nasty Iranian jail.

According to the Times they have no special connections and they were supposed to be up a creek without a paddle lol

That's bullshi* they had no connections my a$$.

I'm happy they have been released, but they also sparked an international incident and have given North Korea a reason to feel that they have some upper hand on the US now.

Not only that, but if any of us were stranded in a foreign country, we'd have to squander our own resources and savings getting extricated from the situation, rather than rely on Bill Clinton and get a free ride home on a private State Department jet.

Sorry if I sound jealous, but lots of havoc has been caused, and the 6 figure book deals that Euna and Lisa are sure to score (if not 7 figures) will also not help my sympathy for them. I hope they donate all proceeds towards funds for expats kidnapped abroad, in which case I will bow down and apologize.

Bill Maher's new rule on Friday night should be "all Americans need GPS when traveling in shady parts of the world." (ie. the 3 backpackers now being held captive in Iran). Enough is enough.

Laura Ling (sister) does great documentaries for NatGeo, apparently that is part of the Ling heritage.