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Journos: Koreans Grabbed Us on Chinese Soil

Laura Ling and Euna Lee describe their capture ordeal

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Sep 2, 2009 1:46 AM CDT

(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.

"We didn't spend more than a minute on North Korean soil before turning back, but it's a minute we deeply regret," they write. "To this day, we still don't know if we were lured into a trap." The two aren't willing to go into extensive detail about their time in captivity. "The psychological wounds of imprisonment are slow to heal," they write. Instead, they want attention to focus on the story they were reporting: the plight of North Korean defectors living in harsh conditions in China.

[Images (3)]

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Laura Ling, left, and Euna Lee arrive at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, Calif., last month. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Euna Lee, left, and Laura Ling were reporting on North Korean refugees when they were seized by border guards. (AP Photo/Yonhap, File)

Laura Ling, top, and Euna Lee arrive at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, Calif., early last month. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

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We tried with all our might to cling to bushes, ground, anything that would keep us on Chinese soil, but we were no match for the determined soldiers. They violently dragged us back across the ice to North Korea. - Laura Ling and Euna Lee

Many people have asked about our strength to endure such hardships and uncertainty. But our experiences pale when compared to the hardship facing so many people living in North Korea or as illegal immigrants in China. - Laura Ling and Euna Lee

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Journos: Koreans Grabbed Us on Chinese Soil