North Korea Holds American Journalists: Let's Not Forget

Laura Ling and Euna Lee are journalists, They work for Current TV, based in San Francisco.

They're being tried in North Korea for 'hostile acts.' What the acts were and why they were hostile is about as clear as anything else that comes out of Kim Jong Il's country. Their trial, of course, is closed.

My guess is that they're being used as bargaining chips, to be traded for something. Probably from America. Sooner or later, a sentence will be announced. After that, they'll either be released, probably with declarations of how magnanimous and merciful The Democratic People's Republic of Korea is (following Iran's lead); or not.

More-or-less related posts:

• "North Korea, Nuclear Weapons, Brinksmanship, and Miscalculation"
  (May 27, 2009)
• "Roxana Saberi Out of Iran, in Vienna: Islamic Mercy Followed Through"
  (May 15, 2009)
• "Satellite Images of Syrian Reactor / Warehouse"
  (October 25, 2007)

News and views:

• "Clinton Says North Korea Trial May Be Step Toward Freeing Women"
  Bloomberg (June 5, 2009)
• "A sombre scoop for Pyongyang's pawns"
  Asia Times (June 6, 2009) [! International Dateline]
• "North Korea silent about US journalists' trial"
  The Associated Press (June 5, 2009)
• "N. Korea bars observers at reporters' trial"
  CNN (June 4, 2009)
• "North Korea: No Word on Trial of U.S. Journalists "
  The New York Times (June 4, 2009)
• "North Korea to try U.S. journalists for unspecified 'hostile acts'"
  Los Angeles Times (June 4, 2009)
• "Japanese researcher recalls imprisonment in North Korea"
  CNN (June 4, 2009)
• "Vigils Held for American Reporters on Trial in North Korea"
  The New York Times (June 3, 2009)
• "Families lobby media before journalists' North Korean trial"
  CNN (June 1, 2009)