Smart, Tough Diplomacy: Hillary Clinton Asks Bloggers to Free U.S. Journalists from North Korea

Because if there’s one thing Kim Jong Il simply cannot withstand, it’s that lethal instrument of soft power known as “snark:”

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday urged women students to use the Internet to campaign for the release of two American women journalists held in North Korea.

Clinton urged graduates of Barnard College, a women’s university in New York City, to show their opposition to Pyongyang’s detention of the two journalists who are due to go on trial on June 4.

“We have two young women journalists right now imprisoned in North Korea and you can get busy on the Internet and let the North Koreans know that we find that absolutely unacceptable,” Clinton told the graduation ceremony.  [AFP]

Let me see if I understand this:  the Secretary of State who represents a government that has the power to restore North Korea to the list of state sponsors of terrorism, freeze the assets of its overseas accounts and entities, invoke Executive Orders 13224 or 13382, collapse its financial system with a few carefully chosen comments from the Treasury Secretary, or sanction its state financial organs for essentially being one big money laundering operation actually believes we can strike fear into the hearts of a clique of bloody-minded, purge-hardened commisars — most of whom have never so much as used the internet — with … twitter?

Either something about the direction of Mrs. Clinton’s appeal is absurdly out of sequence, or Mrs. Clinton really is on to something.  Maybe we could even hire people on a full-time, professional basis to defend the interests of the United States and protect the safety of its citizens. We could even establish special offices for them in the countries where we want to “campaign.”  We could call those offices “embassies,” and we could staff them with people who are specially trained in campaigning in thoughtful and diplomatic ways to protect our citizens, our interests, and our values.  To emphasize that point, we could call these people “diplomats.”

And the best part is, they’d all have twitter and Face Book accounts!

Just imagine how much better a world this would be if some people like that actually worked for Mrs. Clinton.  Or better yet, if they worked for us.

UPDATE:  Or would that distract from the “bigger issues?”  The State Department won’t send an envoy to Pyongyang until Laura Ling and Euna Lee are freed, or so say the South Koreans.  Personally, I don’t see much point in sending diplomats to Pyongyang now.  The Treasury Department has had much better luck in getting a clear message through to Pyongyang in any event.

6 Responses

  1. Interesting to hear this from Clinton. I just attended a luncheon today about the communication strategies used during the 2009 legislative session (for Florida) and internet campaigning/activism was mentioned.

    Anyway, I agree with you, I can’t see how internet activism is going to save these women. But I will say one thing though: it has raised awareness and it stepped in when mainstream media and Washington were ignoring the topic.

  2. I shouldn’t discount the internet completely, if for no other reason than to spread the word about what a vile place North Korea really has become. I think understanding the regime’s nature is essential to a realistic approach to North Korea. But Clinton is kidding herself if she thinks our little drum circle is going to have a direct influence on the North Koreans. Our little drum circle can only influence North Korea if it forces the hand of people like Hillary Clinton and distracts them from those “bigger issues.”

  3. Mme Secretary IS on to something!

    I’M on the internet! Millions like me can also tell off Sudan!
    She’s the first Sec of State to care or think of an effective solution to prevent genocide!

    So I guess the guilt of the Clinton presidency after Rwanda actually paid off.

  4. Maybe, like, Allison Kilkenny could blog away on Slate or True Slant or whatever to talk some sense into this dude who thinks he’s hot shit.

  5. I think I over reacted to her comment on the good news that a trial date was set. I still think it was a stupid thing to say and exposes a position we should ridicule, but as time passed reflecting on it, I didn’t feel as outraged as initially.

    That probably had an influence on how I took this piece: I’m just a little too numb from trying to make sense of what the current administration has been doing (and not doing) about this issue to be as outraged as I probably should with this newest item…

    You would thing that the more an issue plays out, and the more tidbits you gather from the people in charge, the better you’d understand what they are doing……..I’m probably worse off now than I was in the first days after the two reporters were detained.

    And my impression of Hillary Clinton has run into the ground like a meteor.

    I couldn’t believe she was saying something that could easily be seen as a validation of the North’s legal system.

    Now, she’s telling regular citizens that they are the ones who need to be out-spoken about the plight of these two American women held by the most despotic nation in the world…..THEY need to speak out and pressure Pyongyang….

    The only possible thing that could recover Clinton in my book is if some years from now I read in her autobiography that —- she really wanted to go gungho against NK when the news came about the apprehension of the two reporters, but Obama forbid it….

    …but I don’t think that will turn out to be the case…

    ….I can’t believe this case is actually getting more muddled and mystifying as time passes…..

  6. Maybe she knows Kim Jong il is all about being the “internet expert.”