Human rights journalists sentenced to labor camps

When I heard about the detention of two American journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, by North Korean authorities in March, my first thought focused on their courage and the importance of their mission to document the little-reported stories of North Korean refugees in China.  The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea had recently released a comprehensive report on North Korean refugees victimized by human traffickers. Grassroots organizations such as Liberty in North Korea (LiNK) have also worked to raise awareness through video presentations.

Polaris Project signed onto letters to the South Korean and Chinese embassies calling for their help in the release of the journalists and their guide.  Staff members in Washington, DC also attended a vigil the night before the trial.  My initial thoughts were assumed hopeful ones – that Ling and Lee would soon be released to return to the U.S.   On June 7, I was shocked to learn otherwise.

At the end of a trial closed off to foreigners, North Korean officials announced that the two journalists from Current TV were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for illegal entry and unspecified “hostile acts” towards Korea.  Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has already communicated with North Korean officials for Ling and Lee’s release, but the U.S. has not yet received a response.

According to Chuck Downs, the Executive Director of The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, there are at least 250,000 political prisoners in North Korea.  While there is still uncertainty about what types of “hard labor” conditions are involved in this particular sentence, there have been a number of reports by refugees and asylum seekers about their experiences in North Korean political prisons, some of which are referred to as “slave labor camps” by Downs.  In 2002, a Japanese journalist was released after two years in one of these labor camps on allegations of spying which never went to trial.   Defectors from North Korea reported on the brutal conditions of starvation and torture they experienced through other labor camps.

Please join Polaris Project in taking action to bring Laura Ling and Euna Lee home.  Petitions and more information can be found at actress Lisa Ling’s website, Amnesty International, and Reporters Without Borders.