Current TV journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee have been detained in North Korea since March 17. They were arrested for spying by North Korean police at the border between China and North Korea. This strikes endless worry into the hearts of people who know of the gulags, starvation and nuclear weapons proliferation in the most tightly controlled dictatorship in the world. North Korea is a country so secretive, the media has no photographs of Kim Jong Il's twenty something year old son, Kim Jong-un, who has been appointed his father's successor.
Since the women's arrest, family members had been silent, hoping to work out their release quietly. Now, family members, including Lisa Ling, have made emotional public entreaties for the US and North Korea to talk.
The trial for the two women begins June 4 in North Korea.
Lisa Ling will be at the Santa Monica vigil on Wednesday, June 3, that starts at 6:30pm at Wokcano on 1413 5th Street. This is part of a national show of support in Chicago, Washington, New York, Birmingham, Portland and San Francisco.
Public support played no small part in the freeing of journalist Roxana Saberi in Iran. She narrowly avoided an eight-year prison sentence after she was accused of spying. Now, two more journalists need the public's support in avoiding an uncertain fate in North Korea.
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I SAW THE FAMILIES ON LARRY KING THE OTHER EVENING AND WAS SO EMOTIONALLY DISTRAUGHT THAT THESE LOVELY LADIES ARE IN THE HANDS OF THE NORTH KOREANS. I WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT I AM PRAYING FOR THEIR SAFE RETURN. PLEASE GOD, BRING THEM HOME.
I feel very sorry for these girls and their families, and i hope they will be home soon..I know Lisa Ling is doing all she can for them..I have been told that the Governor of New Mexico Bill Richardson has done alot for people leaving from Korea, maybe he could help them. My family is praying for there return..