As featured on p. 218 of "Bloggers on the Bus," under the name "a MyDD blogger."

Sunday, March 22, 2009

The Detainees In North Korea

Just a quick word on this: it is exceedingly weird to me to know the subject of a major news story, and even weirder to know the subject of an international incident. Euna Lee is an editor I knew briefly when I lived in San Francisco, as we worked at the same place. She moved on to Current TV and was sent to China to film around the Tumen River border area with North Korea. North Korean authorities picked up her and her fellow journalist Laura Ling and have detained them for several days now, claiming that they entered DPRK territory. The latest reports put the two in Pyongyang, and the State Department has opened talks for their release.

It is completely irresponsible of Current to send these two young women alone to a dangerous border region, particularly at a time when the North Korean government wants to test their limits with a new Administration. Current's whole "citizen journalist" model doesn't mean you airdrop citizens into difficult circumstances and essentially ask them to poke a bear with a stick. But at this point, we have to hope the State Department can extract their release. Give them a second of your thoughts if you can. I don't really know what else can be done, but if you have ideas, throw them in the comments.