EPICANTHUS

SEOUL—South Korean human rights advocates, bloggers and Christian pastors are accusing Current TV reporters Mitch Koss, Euna Lee and Laura Ling of needlessly endangering the very people they tried to cover: North Korean refugees and the activists who help them.

According to The New York Times, the accusations stem from a central fear repeated in newspapers and blogs here: that the notes and videotapes the journalists gathered in China before their ill-fated venture to the border fell into the hands of the authorities, potentially compromising the identities of refugees and activists dedicated to spiriting people out of the North.

But a Current TV spokesman says “many of the details” of the accusations leveled by South Korean clergymen were “not correct.”

Brent Marcus of Current TV told NYT, “We’re concerned about the situation that has evolved with Lee Chan-woo and the Durihana Mission.”

Current TV executive producer Koss, who eluded capture by North Korean border guards back on March 17, declined to answer specific questions about the trip until Ms. Ling and Ms. Lee had spoken first. Still, he said, he was amazed by “how many untrue stories have been published in the last five months” and how “when there is silence, fantasy answers to fill in empty spaces.”

• In SKorea, Freed US Journos Come Under Harsh Criticism, The New York Times
• China Used US Reporters’ Film to Crack Down on NKorean Refugees, Chosun Ilbo
• Who is Mitch Koss, and Why Isn’t He Talking? Epicanthus
  
• Key Figure in Lee-Ling Incident Hit With Sexual Assault Allegations, Epicanthus
• Springtime in Pyongyang, Epicanthus