North Korea Seizes US Reporters

Laura Ling and Euna Lee describe their capture ordeal

(NEWSER) - The two American journalists detained for months in North Korea were on Chinese soil when they were seized by border guards, they write in Current.com. Laura Ling and Euna Lee say they were reporting on the human trafficking of North Korean refugees in China when their guide briefly brought them across a frozen river onto North Korean soil. They turned back across the ice and returned to the Chinese side, but were pursued by armed guards who hauled them back over the river. More»

TV reporters will be charged with illegal entry: Pyongyang

(AP) - North Korea's state-run news agency says two American reporters detained earlier this month will be tried for illegal entry and "hostile acts." The Korean Central News Agency said in a report today that an initial investigation confirmed suspicions about the two women and preparations for indictments and trial are under way. More»

(NEWSER) - North Korea today confirmed it is detaining two American journalists on charges of “illegally intruding” into the communist nation, the New York Times reports. The reporters, both from Al Gore’s Current TV station, were reporting along the river border between China and Korea when they were apprehended. “A competent organ is now investigating the case,” said the North’s official news agency. More»

Anthony Shadid snuck into Syria to cover uprising

(NEWSER) - One of the world's great foreign correspondents has died while covering the Syrian uprising. Anthony Shadid, a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times correspondent, died from an apparent asthma attack a week after slipping across the border from Turkey to gather information on the resistance movement. Times photographer Tyler Hicks was with him and carried his body back to Turkey. Shadid, 43, covered the Middle East for nearly 20 years and was shot in the West Bank in 2002 and kidnapped in Libya last year . More»

Report angers China for claims it helps facilitate illegal transfers

(NEWSER) - Iran and North Korea have been illegally swapping missile technology, apparently with the help of China, according to a confidential UN report acquired by Reuters yesterday. It found that "p rohibited ballistic missile-related item" are suspected of being transferred via Air Koryo or Iran Air flights; North Korea prefers to use chartered cargo flights "from or to air cargo hubs which lack the kind of monitoring and security to which passenger terminals and flights are now subject." More»