Whoa. That’s just cold.
I’d have to say that this is the nastiest thing I’ve read yet about Laura Ling and Euna Lee. And that said, it contains much interesting information that may or may not be at all true. This, for example:
Kim Jong Il has ruled it with absolute authority since 1994. He was born in the Forties, but his exact birthday is asecret. He wears platform shoes and a teased hairdo and is reputed to have had a string of lovers, both male and female.
I only regret that Outweek did not live to see this day. And this:
As of last night, the bidding war for the first interview with the two heroines had reportedly reached “˜the mid six figures’. Book publisher HarperCollins is said to have offered a cool $1million for a “˜warts and all’ account of their life during 140 days “˜behind enemy lines’.
A movie deal will surely follow. Laura’s Scottish husband Iain Clayton, a 35-year-old mathematician turned financial analyst, told The Mail on Sunday from the steps of their modest ranch-style home in the less than salubrious suburb of North Hollywood: “˜I’m afraid I can’t say anything. No one is allowed to talk. We are in the process of doing deals and I don’t want to mess anything up. Everything is being handled by our media adviser.’
Funny, because the bidding for the bounties on the women whose faces appeared in Ling and Lee’s video probably capped out at 1,000 yuan.
The Mail on Sunday has spoken to a long-time Democratic Party insider, who is a confidant of Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary, now President Obama’s Secretary of State.˜Laura is sweet but not very street-smart,’ said the insider. “˜She was sent to China to make a routine programme about refugees crossing the border from North Korea but, according to Kim Jong Il’s people, she was walking across the border and leaping about.
“˜The official North Korean report said Euna was holding the camera. Of course, there was speculation they were working for the CIA. Forget that. This has been a farce. It couldn’t be more embarrassing for Obama and the agency. No one hired these girls. No one in Washington had ever heard about them until they were captured by the North Koreans.
“˜From everything I have heard about Laura, she is a Valley girl who wanted to play in the big league.
I think she did this as a stunt to compete with her sister. Lisa Ling works with people like Oprah. Laura earns peanuts at a network no one has heard of. This was her big chance.’
The reporters weren’t kind to the Clintons, either:
The Clinton confidant said: “˜This wasn’t about the women ““ this was about a PR coup.Barack Obama may have defeated Bill’s wife but this is the Clintons’ revenge. The North Koreans are talking about nuclear disarmament but they say they will talk only to Bill. It’s a win-win situation for everyone except Obama.
Me, I’ve already wearied of the bloodsport about these two. They did something dumb, and I pray to God that it didn’t get anyone killed or sent to a labor camp. The damage they did to our foreign policy depends on how willing Obama is to take his promises (made under the duress of a hostage-holder, after all) as seriously as Kim Jong Il takes his. I’ll say in no uncertain terms that we should renege on any promises or concessions we made to get these women home. As for Ms. Ling and Ms. Lee, they can still redeem themselves, if they just get over the idea that this is all about Laura Ling and Euna Lee.At the end of the day, what do I take from this? That Euna Lee’s daughter is cute. Her mom is a fool, and I’m still glad she’s back with her little girl again. And I don’t see the contradiction in that.
According to the article in this post, “Kim Jong Il only wanted Bill. He idolises the former President because he thinks he is a virile stud with influence in Hollywood.”
I am not kidding.
This article is a piece of crap from a trashy British tabloid.
Hey, if everything this article says is true, we could just as well have sent Larry Craig. He’s a virile stud, too. And he’s available.
Hey, I don’t know…given what reliable info we have on Kim Jong-Il’s flower girls and his vast movie collection and his own pre-dictatorship role as film-maker, I can’t toss the Bill Clinton statement out of hand. I’ll have to leave that one in my quiet large ? box…
Though it’s tempting to dismiss a piece from a tabloidy-sounding UK newspaper, co-authors Caroline Graham and Sharon Churcher ace actually pretty solid. Graham is based in L.A., while the very experienced Churcher roams all over for stories, and counts among her pals the generally trustworthy NYC-based former Fox News columnist Roger Friedman. Churcher for example did a great interview with Kevin Spacey’s brother once, revealing some very deep, dark family secrets.
So… though the Democratic Party insider who provides the most interesting revelations is unnamed, he could actually be a reputable source.
Hi Richard!
Can you politely ask Caroline Graham, who is based in L.A., why her article does not mention Mitch Koss, who lives in L.A. ? Wouldn’t she want to pursue the story that nobody else in the world has been able to tell? I just think it’s inexcusable and irresponsible to write a “Mail on Sunday investigation” that says “the two women were sent to China in March to do a report about North Korean refugees pouring over the border” and not include the third Current TV crew member who was there with Laura and Euna all the way to the Tumen River border area.
Thanks,
Spelunker
Well, I wonder if MIich had a bigger camera and Euna a small one? Not impossible. While the piece is plenty sensationalized, there’s nuggets of truth. Or sort-of truth.
And poor Joel Hyatt–the only Current exec to show up at the vigils and he’s lambasted. I doubt that he signed off on this or any other story. Neumann et al. are doing a good job of keeping their names out of the papers.
Euna Lee had a small digital camera confiscated. I’m 99% sure Mitch Koss held the video camera as long as he could. How do I know Euna had a digital camera?
1. The North Korean post-trial report listed a digital camera as part of the confiscated evidence. This is from the Chinese version: (æ•°ç 相机一å°)
2. Michael Saldate, Euna’s husband, revealed in a TV interview that he had to borrow a friend’s camera to take pictures of daughter Hana because his wife took their only camera with her on assignment.
Isnt’ this interesting. To get the facts straight, we rely on the North Korean government. I sure wish I could see that darned post-trial report, complete and in English!
Here it is, but I’m not sure if it’s too long to post as a reply on “One Free Korea”. This is my original translation of the post trial report from the Chinese version:
The trial of American criminals for conduct of anti-North Korea hostilities
Korean Central News Agency
Recently, two American journalists committed hostile acts against North Korea and illegal invasion of our territory and are to be tried after arrest.
According to the Constitution of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and Article 158 of the Code of Criminal Procedure No. 271, in order to prevent the disclosure of state secrets there is a non-public approach to the trial.
Today, the Korean peninsula is in an unprecedented confrontation with the U.S. and so the Korean Central News Agency was authorized to make detailed reports to American news of the crime:
This year on the early morning of March 17, two unidentified men and two women crossed onto Duman (Tumen) River, North Hamgyong onto the riverbank on the other side (our side); and conducted suspicious actions.
Members of our border guards on patrol at the time questioned them; two men fled, two women were arrested in situ.
Identified by the trial of their identity, one Laura Ling, 32 years old, U.S. citizen of Chinese nationality, the United States “Current TV” Broadcasting Corporation correspondent; another person named Lee Cheng-En, 36 years old, South Korea, an American citizen who is an editor of the same broadcasting company.
Interrogation results identified that they carried out an invasive border crime with the aim of making a multi-media information campaign which is anti-North Korea human rights.
The Central Public Prosecutors Office of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea issued the arrest warrant on March 22 of Lee and Ling, and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in accordance with Article 69 of the Penal Code section 233, the detained women are to be held criminally responsible.
According to the pre-trial judge, in January this year, Laura Ling and Lee Cheng-En were in the City of Los Angeles in the United States engaged in editorial oversight procedures with “Current TV” company’s Mitch Koss as well as David Newman and head of Corporate Law David Harleston; together they plotted to produce a documentary defaming the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
They also used a group of crazy people in South Korea who are anti-Communist known as “Durihana Mission”, led by the minister Chun Ki-won, he introduced a guide and arranged for interviews in the South with those who object.
On March 6, they received 9950 U.S. dollars provided by the company. On March 9 they left the United States. Their entry visa applications for China used false facts and wrote: The purpose of travel is as an ordinary tourist, occupation is the “Current Holding” computer experts.
Laura Ling, Lee Cheng-En, and Mitch Koss went to South Korea and on March 11 visited the unarmed military demarcation line district, followed by interviews with defectors, and induced them to tell the people defamation of our system and the telling of lies.
On March 13 they arrived at Yanji City, Jilin Province in China, and followed the guide introduced by Chun Ki-won to interview border violators, collecting reports from the criminals who made nonsense and all kinds of abusive remarks.
From pre-trial confession and the content of the above it shows that their behavior is an out-and-out attempt to belittle the image of our Republic and of libel and slander; the very impure politically motivated act of starting hostilities.
This is against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea section 69 of the Criminal Law (the crime of the Korean nation hostile) behavior.
At 6 o’clock on March 17, led by the guide introduced by Chun Ki-won along the way (Kim Sung-chul) , Laura Ling and Lee Cheng-En and Mitch Koss set out from Tumen City in China to sneak across the frozen Tumen River onto our riverbank and used a video camera to film surrounding features, and recorded the narration of “we have not been allowed to enter the territory of North Korea,” and even picked up a small stone as a memento.
This is against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s Penal Code section 233 (illegal immigration crimes) and is a serious criminal invasion of our territory.
The Democratic People’s Republic of the Central Public Prosecutors Office through the pre-trial statements and evidence – a video recorder, six videotapes, a digital camera, one stone, 17 photos, 2 multimedia information notebook. This evidence confirms the picture of criminal acts. On May 11 was their indictment of the Central Court.
June 1, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s Central Court based on survey data, and in recognition of the contents of the prosecution evidence; the law is correct and it is also made to determine the Democratic People’s Republic in accordance with article 292 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and a Article 295 of the Criminal Code and to Article 69 and 233 the defendants were then prosecuted based on trial.
From June 4-8 in Pyongyang City, the Central Court conducted a trial of the accused. According to the defendant’s request, Laura Ling selected an interpreter to translate the proceedings in the trial lawyers debate. Lee Cheng-En selected to give up the right to counsel, so the debate did not provide one for her.
The defendants admitted in court: their libel and slander action in making an attempt to distort the facts of of our human rights situation in the Republic using multimedia data, to isolate and stifle the socialist system in our country stemming from political motives for the crime.
Central Court on behalf of the Democratic People’s Republic of determining the defendant Laura Ling and Lee Cheng-En sentenced in accordance with Article 69 of the Penal Code, reform through labor for 10 years, and according to article 233 of the Penal Code reform through labor 4 years and article 44 under the criminal law reform through labor for 12 years.
Custody of the accused begins from the March 22, 2009 from the date of sentence, and it was announced that the verdict can not be appealed.
Offenders recognized and accepted the verdict.
We are closely monitoring the United States and remain vigilant against the criminal acts of anti-North Korea actions.
June 16, 2009 Pyongyang