Journalists’ Families Issue Mea Culpa, Ask U.S., N. Korea to Step Up Negotiations for Release
June 1, 2009
NEW YORK—The families of jailed journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling appeared on NBC’s Today show this morning and called on both the U.S. and North Korean governments to increase dialogue with each other and resolve issues surrounding the arrests of the American reporters and negotiate their release.
“It’s been long enough,” declared Lisa Ling, sister of one of the detained reporters and herself a veteran TV news correspondent. “We all sit and watch the news and we see the tensions escalating continuously and we just felt like now is the time to urge both governments to communicate.”
Lee and Ling were arrested in the early morning hours of March 17 along the northeastern border of China and North Korea. Both work for the San Francisco-based multimedia news operation Current TV, which was founded by former Vice President Al Gore. At the time of their arrest, Lee and Ling were accompanied by veteran newsman Mitchell Koss, executive producer of Current TV’s elite Vanguard Journalism reporting unit. Koss managed to elude capture.
Saying that neither Lee nor Ling have admitted any possible violations of North Korean law, Ling added: “What we can tell you is that when they left the U.S., there was no intention of crossing the border into North Korea. And if at any point they may have, the families profusely apologize on their behalf.”
Asked how the families felt about the two reporters becoming pawns in a drawn-out diplomatic stand-off, Ling replied:
“Of course, we’re terrified, and that’s why we’re here. We hope both governments will come to a solution on humanitarian grounds on our issue.”
